PRIME MINISTER

Intelligence Services

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to answer parliamentary questions on intelligence matters.

David Cameron: Parliamentary questions are answered by the relevant Minister.

Military Medals Review

Jim Dowd: To ask the Prime Minister when he expects (a) to have concluded consideration of the report of the Honours and Decorations Committee's Medal Review and (b) to publish the Government's response to that report.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 29 July 2014, Official Report, column WS147.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes were built in each London Borough in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: Statistics on delivery of affordable housing by local authority area are published in the Department’s live table 1008, which is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
	These statistics include both newly built housing and acquisitions, and include figures for 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. Further statistics will be published in due course.
	My Department holds some statistics for 2013-14, for affordable housing delivery through programmes reported by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority (but not through other sources).
	In total, the combined figures show that almost 200,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England from 2010-11 to 2013-14, of which almost 49,000 are in London. We expect these figures to be revised upwards when full affordable housing supply statistics are published in due course.
	The Government’s affordable housing programme for 2015 to 2018 aims to deliver 165,000 new affordable homes, and lever in a further £23 billion of public and private investment in affordable housing.

Alcoholic Drinks

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his Department's policy is on alcohol consumption on the premises (a) in general and (b) during parties in his Private Office.

Kris Hopkins: This Government has stopped departmental spending of taxpayers’ money on alcohol. We have closed and called time on the secret nationalised bar in our Department’s basement (coined by some wags as “the Prezza Arms”).
	Yet Ministers in this Department are not killjoys. As was the case under the last Administration, there is no prohibition on alcohol consumption (funded privately), and we recognise that there may be occasions when it is not inappropriate for a few drinks after work to mark a colleague leaving or note a particular milestone achieved, provided staff exercise personal responsibility, observe the standard of behaviour required by the Civil Service Code, and follow the law on drinking and driving. This is common practice in other workplaces across the land. This Department champions common sense, not the nanny state.
	Also, as the lead Department for community pubs, we would encourage staff to continue any celebrations in a nearby licensed premises to do their bit to support Britain’s pub trade and benefit from this Government’s cuts in beer duty and scrapping of Labour’s beer duty escalator.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: Since 2010, the Department has had considerable success in reducing the cost of its wider estate through the rationalisation of retained office space and targeted building disposals. This has seen the Department surrender six leasehold office properties through a combination of lease breaks and expiries, generating net savings in the period of around £7 million per annum. The Department has also successfully sub-let surplus space across its leasehold office estate during the same period, reducing the overall property costs by around £6.5 million per annum.
	Building on this success, in 2013-14, we have secured further savings of £4.6 million by subletting further space in Eland House in London ahead of vacating the building in September 2014. The move from Eland House to 2 Marsham Street will reduce my department’s running costs by £9 million a year from 2015-16. Overall, these changes will save taxpayers a total of £220 million over the lifetime of the building’s lease commitments.
	This illustrates the scope for local government and, indeed, the public sector as a whole to make sensible savings through better property management.
	In June 2013, supporting the Prime Minister’s commitment to support the development of small and medium enterprises, the Department agreed terms with business incubator providers to take vacant space at 2 Rivergate House in Bristol and Bridge House, Guildford. This is an important part of the Government’s drive to assist the start-up and small and medium enterprises business and we are also working with the Government Property Unit on potential Government Space for Growth opportunities in other properties held by DCLG.

Children: Protection

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's Information Sharing Guidelines on providing professionals with information about sharing data in the interests of child protection; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when he will update his Department's Information Sharing Guidance;
	(3)  what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with counterparts in the Department for Education on his Department's Information Sharing Guidelines and child protection.

Kris Hopkins: The Government is committed to improving information sharing, for the benefit of vulnerable children and adults, and all members of society. The statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguarding Children’ requires all organisations to have arrangements in place which enable the effective sharing of information. Government Departments have been working to review procedures to identify children and adults at risk of abuse and the outcome of this review was published on 29 July and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/working-together-to-safeguard-children-multi-agency-safeguarding-hubs
	The Government is reviewing the guidance for practitioners and managers to dispel mistaken beliefs which prevent information being shared appropriately and effectively.

Community Infrastructure Levy

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have a Community Infrastructure Levy (a) approved and (b) in operation.

Brandon Lewis: The following 18 authorities in England and Wales have had their Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedules approved at examination but are yet to either formerly adopt, or to start charging, the levy:
	Barking and Dagenham
	Haringey
	Hertsmere
	Hillingdon
	Islington
	Lambeth
	Lewisham
	New Forest
	Richmond Upon Thames
	Rhondda Cynon Taf
	Sedgemoor
	Sevenoaks
	Surrey Heath
	Tandridge
	Teignbridge
	West Berkshire
	West Lancashire
	Woking
	The following 45 authorities are currently charging the Community Infrastructure Levy, having passed the independent examination.
	Barnet
	Bassetlaw
	Bedford
	Brent
	Bristol
	Broadland
	Caerphilly
	Chelmsford
	Chorley
	City of London
	Croydon
	Dartford
	East Cambridgeshire
	Elmbridge
	Epsom and Ewell
	Exeter
	Fareham
	Greater London Authority
	Harrow
	Havant
	Huntingdonshire
	Merthyr Tydfil
	Merton
	Newark and Sherwood
	Newham
	Norwich
	Oxford
	Plymouth
	Poole
	Portsmouth
	Preston
	Purbeck
	Redbridge
	Shropshire
	Southampton
	South Norfolk
	South Ribble
	Sutton
	Taunton Deane
	Trafford
	Waltham Forest
	Wandsworth
	Waveney
	Winchester
	Wycombe
	In addition to the 63 authorities listed above, a further 116 authorities have made significant progress towards adopting the levy.
	Of the 116, 21 authorities have either submitted their levy charging schedules for examination or been scheduled for examination, a further 25 have published a draft charging schedule for consultation and a further 70 have published a preliminary draft charging schedule for consultation.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: We do not specifically hold information on costs of replies to hon. Members, however we can estimate a cost based on use of paper, envelopes, postage and ink cartridges on annual inquiries ranging between 10,000 to 12,000, of which 95% are postal replies. The cost ranges between £6,500 and £7,500 depending on reply volume per annum.
	Most correspondence from hon. Members continues to be received as letters and is replied to in the same format. Ministers do, however, reply by e-mail when they consider it appropriate to do so.

Council Housing

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of council-owned homes in England which are affected by damp; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: According to the English Housing Survey, in 2012 there were around 116,000 (7%) local authority homes affected by damp, down from 214,000 (12%) in 2009. The Department for Communities and Local Government have allocated £2.26 billion of decent homes funding for 2011-16 to further reduce this number.

Council Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many council homes were built in each London Borough in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: More new council housing was started in London last year than in all the 13 years of the last Labour Government combined. Statistics on local authority (council) house building by local authority area are published in the Department’s live table 253, which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

Families: Disadvantaged

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many officials of his Department work on the Troubled Families programme; and what their grade and pay scale is.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 14 July 2014
	The Troubled Families team, based in DCLG, was established in 2011 to join up efforts across the whole of government and to provide expert help to local authorities to drive forward the programme of turning around the lives of troubled families. Government data collected in 2011 estimated that £9 billion is spent annually on troubled families—an average of £75,000 per family each year. Of this, an estimated £8 billion is spent reacting to the problems these families have and cause with just £1 billion being spent on helping families to solve and prevent problems in the longer term.
	As of the end of June 2014, my Department had the following number of officials working on Troubled Families programme:
	four executive officers (and equivalents);
	three higher executive officers;
	seven senior executive officers,
	three grade 7;
	five grade 6;
	two deputy directors;
	one director; and
	one director general.
	The latter two senior salaries are published as part of our transparency agenda, and are respectively (a) within the range of £110,000 to £114,999 and (b) within the range of £130,000 to £134,999.
	More generally, civil servants are paid within a grade pay scale. These ranges are:
	executive officer (£22,279 to £31,225);
	higher executive officer (£26,058 to £39,513);
	senior executive officer (£32,311 to £45,985);
	grade 7 (£40,852 to £57,110);
	grade 6 (£50,203 to £70,375); and
	deputy director (£62,000 to £117,800).

Fire Services: Pensions

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential liability to Government should the take-up rate in the proposed 2015 firefighters' pension scheme be lower than anticipated.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is committed to providing good quality public service pension schemes and encouraging saving for retirement. Firefighters will continue to get one of the most generous public service pensions available—over £19,000 at age 60 after a full career (based on a firefighters’ salary of £29,000). Many firefighters who transfer to the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015 will see a reduction in their employee contribution rate of around 2 percentage points in 2015-16.
	If a firefighter opts out of the pension scheme, this reduces the long term liability for the taxpayer but increases the short term top-up grant paid by the Department to fund the shortfall in scheme income. Overall, this would be likely to result in a long-term net saving for taxpayers, but we have not undertaken the actuarial work to calculate a precise assessment. This is because we would encourage firefighters to remain in the scheme, given it remains an extremely good defined benefit scheme—an equivalent private pension pot would need over half a million pounds of funding and require firefighters to contribute twice as much.

Housing: Construction

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many houses have been completed in each local authority area in each of the last five years; how many such houses are affordable houses built under a section 106 agreement; and what proportion of the total number of houses on each scheme built in that time are houses built under section 106 agreements.

Brandon Lewis: Statistics on house building completions by tenure in each local authority district are published in the Department’s live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link.
	http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
	Statistics on the numbers of affordable homes built through section 106 agreements and without Government grant funding are published in Live Table 1000, which is available at the following link.
	http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
	The estimates exclude affordable homes built through section 106 supported with grant funding.
	The proportion of the total number of houses on each scheme built that are houses built under section 106 agreements is not centrally collected.

Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of new homes needed annually to meet London's housing needs into 2020.

Brandon Lewis: From the 1 April 2012, the Mayor of London has had strategic oversight of housing, regeneration and economic development in London.
	The Department does not estimate demand for housing. However, the Department publishes household projections, which are a trend-based view of the number of households that would form given projected population and previous demographic trends.
	The most recent household projections are 2011-based. The projected household numbers are disaggregated by household type and are published at:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/household-projections
	I would observe that new home registrations rose by 30% in 2013 in England, the highest since 2007; and are up 60% in London, the highest for over two decades, this is in contrast to Wales which has a Labour Administration, where new home registrations are falling1.
	More new council housing was started in London last year than in all the 13 years for the last Labour Government combined.
	1Source: NHBC

Local Government Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will provide a list of the amount and proportion by which central government funding to each local authority in England, ranked in order by percentage, has been reduced in each year since 2010.

Kris Hopkins: The information is not held centrally in the form requested.
	Figures showing local authority income from central Government grants are collected on the Revenue Outturn forms, and are published by individual local authority on the DCLG website at:
	2010-11
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2010-to-2011-individual-local-authority-data--5
	2011-12
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2011-to-2012-individual-local-authority-data--2
	2012-13
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing-england-2012-to-2013-individual-local-authority-data-outturn
	However, meaningful, like-for-like comparisons for individual local authorities cannot be made over more than one financial year owing to changes in local authority responsibility and function, as for instance due to the transfer of responsibility for concessionary travel and due to the introduction of academy schools.

Local Government Finance: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department allocated to City of York Council for (a) local authority supported capital expenditure in housing stock and (b) major repairs allowance in each year since 2009-10.

Brandon Lewis: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Major Repairs Allowance (£) 
			 2009-10 5,127,440 
			 2010-11 5,242,423 
			 2011-12 5,185,387 
			 2012-13 5,266,485 
		
	
	The local authority received £1 million in Supported Capital Expenditure (Revenue) in both 2009-10 and 2010-11.
	Following our reform and decentralisation of the Housing Revenue Account in April 2012, the system has fundamentally changed and no longer operates in that manner outlined in the hon. Member’s question. Councils now manage their housing stock without annual payments to or from central Government. They now keep their rental income and use it to fund their housing stock (called ‘self-financing’).
	In 2012, the move to self-financing included a one-off settlement payment to, or from, each council, giving each a level of debt it can support, based on a valuation of its council housing stock. Where the valuation was lower than the amount of housing debt supported through the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system, the Government paid off the difference. Where the valuation was higher than the debt supported by the Housing Revenue Account subsidy, the council paid the difference to the Government.
	These payments were based on a valuation of each council’s stock, using a 30-year discounted cash flow model of income and expenditure. The costs in the model assumed that councils will need to spend on average 15% more on managing, maintaining and repairing their stock than was assumed under the subsidy system. The self-financing settlement took into account an assessment of local authorities’ needs, including major repairs.
	These reforms have given councils the resources, incentives and flexibility they need to manage their own housing stock for the long term and to improve quality and efficiency, and they have also provided a clearer relationship between the rent a landlord collects and the services they provide.

Local Plans

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities complete and publish local development plans as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Localism Act enabled the abolition of the Labour Government’s top-down Regional Strategies and strengthened the role of Local Plans (complemented by neighbourhood planning) in determining where new development should and should not go. However, a locally-led planning system needs councils to have up-to-date plans in place, and requires elected councillors to take decisions, sometimes challenging, in consultation with local residents.
	We have provided support for all local authorities in plan-making, both directly and in conjunction with the Planning Inspectorate and Planning Advisory Service. This includes engagement from expert officials to support authorities in resolving challenging issues and preparing effectively for examination, and by providing direct support on technical matters via the Planning Advisory Service.
	The National Planning Policy Framework strongly encourages all areas to get Local Plans in place quickly as the best way of determining what development is appropriate and where; councils with a Local Plan are in a strong position to stop unwanted speculative development.
	Plan production has increased significantly in the last few years: 79% of local authorities have now published a Local Plan. To place this in context, six years after the Labour Government's 2004 Planning Act, by May 2010, only one in six local planning authorities had an adopted Core Strategy.

Morecambe

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will estimate how much money his Department has spent in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency since May 2010.

Kris Hopkins: The information is not centrally held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Funding is generally not allocated by parliamentary constituency.

Parking

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library all responses to his Department's consultation on local authority parking.

Penny Mordaunt: We have placed in the Library of the House a copy of the detailed summary of the 800 responses to the consultation.

Pay

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many officials in his Department, of each grade, have remained at that grade since 2010 but received a pay rise; and how much of a rise each such person at each such grade has received.

Kris Hopkins: The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House. The figures reflect the historic regime of contractual binding pay progression; we intend to end this by December 2014 and replace it with a fairer system which allows greater control over future pay awards.
	More broadly, our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £95 million in 2013-14, a reduction of 56% in cash terms, or a saving of £121 million a year.

Poultry: Farms

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department gives planning authorities on the extent to which they should assess the cumulative effect of intensive chicken units on the environment and local communities in determining planning applications relating to such units.

Brandon Lewis: Local authorities across England must have regard to the National Planning Policy Framework. This asks local authorities to assess the needs of the food production industry and resolve any associated planning barriers, but also to recognise the character and beauty of the countryside and prevent unacceptable levels of pollution. Local authorities have to assess each proposal on its facts and merits in the light of the Local Plan, of national planning policies, and all other material considerations, including the views expressed by local people. They can also assess the cumulative impact of numbers of such premises on the area.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010.

Kris Hopkins: The following table sets out the number of contracts that has been let by the core Department since 2009-10, as shown on our procurement and financial systems.
	
		
			  Number of contracts 
			  Contract value between £1 million and £3 million Contract value over £3 million 
			 2009-10 2 9 
			 2010-11 1 1 
			 2011-12 5 2 
			 2012-13 10 3 
			 2013-14 4 2 
		
	
	For contracts that are about to be let there are none within the values requested. We have not included those contracts that are about to be extended nor those about to be let through a framework agreement as we do not yet know the value of the framework contract.
	Information relating to the expenditure and the number of officials involved in monitoring contracts is not held centrally.

Regeneration: Thames Gateway

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how much each local authority in the Thames Gateway spent on regeneration activities in the last 15 years for which figures are available;
	(2)  how much each local authority in the Thames Gateway spent on economic development activities in each of the last 15 years for which figures are available.

Penny Mordaunt: The information is not centrally held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	I would note that many of the local authorities in the Thames Gateway cover an area larger than just the Thames Gateway, and do not split their published expenditure between inside and outside the Thames Gateway.

Rented Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of new affordable homes in each London Borough were rented at below (a) 70 per cent, (b) 60 per cent and (c) 50 per cent of market rent in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: This information is not held centrally. Notwithstanding, I also refer the right hon. Member to the answer to him of 14 May 2014, Official Report, column 638W.

Rented Housing: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average sector rent was in each London Borough in each year since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: Information on average rents in the local authority sector for 2011-12 and 2012-13 can be found in section H of the datasets on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-housing-statistics-data-returns-for-2011-to-2012
	and
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/local-authority-housing-statistics-data-returns-for-2012-to-2013
	Information on average rents in the private sector can be found on the Valuation Office’s website at:
	http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/statisticalReleases/140610_Private_Rental_Market.html
	Information on average social rents Private Registered Providers can be found on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-rents-lettings-and-tenancies
	The following tables show how rents have fallen in real terms.
	
		
			 England 
			  Rental Index (Nominal) Rental Index (Real) Annual PercentageChange Nominal (%) Annual Percentage Change (Real) (%) 
			 May 2010 99.6 87.0 — — 
			 May 2011 100.3 83.9 0.8 -3.5 
			 May 2012 101.8 82.9 1.5 -1.3 
			 May 2013 103.1 81.7 1.3 -1.4 
			 May 2014 104.1 81.3 1.0 -0.5 
		
	
	
		
			 London 
			  Rental Index (Nominal) Rental Index (Real) Annual PercentageChange Nominal (%) Annual Percentage Change (Real) (%) 
			 May 2010 100.0 85.5 — — 
			 May 2011 100.5 84.1 0.5 -1.7 
			 May 2012 102.9 83.8 2.4 -0.4 
			 May 2013 105.1 83.3 2.2 -0.5 
			 May 2014 106.5 83.2 1.4 -0.1

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to introduce mandatory eviction orders to be used by local authorities when unauthorised Traveller encampments take place in public parks; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Our expectation is that local authorities will be proactive in their use of the existing strong enforcement powers that are available to deal with unauthorised encampments and development.
	A possession order under Part 55 of the Civil Procedure Rules can be obtained by both local authorities and private landowners who require the removal of trespassers from property including land.
	A local authority can use its powers under sections 77-78 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to direct individuals to remove their vehicles and belongings, and to leave highway land, or any land occupied without the consent of the landowner.
	We have lifted the previous Administration’s restrictions on the use of temporary stop notices, which give councils more freedom to take early and decisive action against unauthorised sites and encampments. Councils can issue such a notice on both private and public sector land.
	In August last year we sent all council leaders a summary of the powers available to them to remove illegal and unauthorised sites; at the same time we reminded them of the need to act swiftly, working with other local agencies, including the police.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will review her departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: My Department has accommodation at three locations:
	1 Horse Guards Road, London, Hillsborough Castle (Co. Down), and Stormont House, Belfast.
	The London office relocated from 11 Millbank to 1 Horse Guards Road in February 2013. This move enabled the Department to secure significant savings of just under £1m per annum. In July 2014, the Northern Ireland Office’s (NIO) footprint within 1 Horse Guards was further reduced which will create an additional annual saving of approximately £58,000.
	On 1 April 2014, my Department transferred responsibility for the management and day to day running of Hillsborough Castle, whilst retaining accommodation and an office for Ministers, to the charity Historic Royal Palaces. This new arrangement will achieve significant savings for the NIO, with the added benefit of enabling the Castle to become fully open to the people of Northern Ireland and visitors from abroad.
	My Department will continue to keep under review potential options to make further savings at all three of its locations.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will estimate the annual cost to her Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: My Department does not hold the specific information requested.

WALES

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office takes every opportunity to maximise the use of the estate and reduce running costs. We lease office space in Cardiff in a modern energy efficient building, and starting in 2013-14 we leased space in our London office to provide us with an income which reduces our running costs.

Motor Sports

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on State Aid rules and the Circuit of Wales.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office has not had any discussions with the Welsh Government on State Aid rules and the Circuit of Wales. As a devolved matter it is for the Welsh Government to decide how to allocate funding for economic development/leisure projects within their own capital budgets and to ensure that any support is compliant with State Aid rules.

SCOTLAND

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office estate comprises two leased buildings: one in London and one in Edinburgh. The Scotland Office takes every opportunity to maximise the use of the estate and to reduce running costs.

TREASURY

Block Grant: Northern Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely reduction to the block grant for Northern Ireland in the current financial year arising from lack of progress on welfare reform difficulties.

Danny Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 228W.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: HM Treasury occupies a small estate the core of which is the building at 1 Horse Guards Road. Space rationalisation since May 2010 in this building has allowed the Cabinet Office, the Northern Ireland Office, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and UK Export Finance to be accommodated, generating £12 million pa in rental income. Inline with business planning HM Treasury regularly reviews its accommodation needs.

Business: Capital Allowances

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses received the annual investment allowance in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.

David Gauke: Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) has been used to encourage investment in plant and machinery by all businesses. The number of unincorporated businesses and companies that received AIA is presented in the following table, and has been rounded to the nearest 1,000. The latest year for which figures are available is 2011-12.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Number Of AIA Claims 1,203,000 1,222,000

Consultants

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to the public purse was of external consultants employed by his Department in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date.

Andrea Leadsom: Spend on external consultants and other professional services is published annually in the Department's annual report and accounts. These can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-annual-report

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: Information relating to costs of stationery and postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members is not recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to increase the number of replies within his Department's working day standard; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The handling of correspondence is given the highest priority by my Department and we aim to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days.
	Guidance on handling correspondence from Members of Parliament, peers, MEPs and Members of devolved Administrations will be updated in due course.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61196/guide-handling-gov-correspondence.pdf

Credit: Interest Rates

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to address concerns that payday loan companies are exploiting vulnerable people.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the payday market, transferring regulatory responsibility for consumer credit regulation from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 April 2014. The FCA has a statutory objective to protect consumers.
	It is important that consumers are protected from unfair costs. The Government has therefore legislated to require the FCA to introduce a cap on the cost of payday loans, and the FCA is currently consulting on its cap proposals.
	The Government also strongly welcomes the FCA's new rules for regulating payday lending, including action on rollovers and continuous payment authorities (CPAs). Payday lenders are also required to adhere to the FCA's high level principles of business, including that of “treating customers fairly”.
	The FCA has also introduced affordability rules to strengthen consumer protection, based on the principle that money should only be lent to a consumer if they can afford it.

EU Grants and Loans

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what circumstances the use of European Investment Bank loans by the Northern Ireland Executive would lead to a reduction in the block grant from his Department.

Danny Alexander: The Northern Ireland Executive’s spending is funded from a variety of sources, including the ‘block grant’ allocation from the UK Government, borrowing, and locally raised revenue. The Northern Ireland Executive can currently borrow up to £200 million per year, up to a total of £3 billion, from the UK’s National Loans Fund (NLF), through the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative (RRI).
	Any loans from the European Investment Bank which were additional to the NLF borrowing would, like the existing facility, count towards the UK’s overall Public Sector Net Cash Requirement (PSNCR) and would have the effect of increasing the overall level of public spending. For this reason, any Northern Ireland Executive borrowing needs to be within the £200 million per year limits which are provided for within the devolved Administration’s total budgets each year. Any increases in borrowing beyond the agreed limits must be offset by reductions in other spending to avoid adding to the overall limits on public spending set out by the Government. Such reductions could be enforced by cuts to the ‘block grant’ portion of NI budgets if the Northern Ireland Executive did not make other offsetting savings.
	It is important to recognise that bodies other than the Northern Ireland Executive can bid for EIB loans in Northern Ireland. In January 2014, the University of Ulster secured a £150 million loan to help build its new Belfast campus, and the Northern Ireland Finance Minister has been encouraging councils within the new local authority structures in Northern Ireland to consider the EIB as a source of finance for infrastructure investment.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

Andrea Leadsom: Since May 2010 the UK has not lost any EU infraction proceedings falling within the responsibility of HM Treasury. The UK has never been fined for an infraction.

Foreign Investment in UK

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of foreign direct investment generated since 2010 as a direct result of the lower rate of corporation tax.

David Gauke: Since 2010, the Government has cut the main rate of corporation tax from 28% to 21%. It will fall further next year, to 20%, giving the UK the joint lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. The Small Profits Rate has also been cut to 20%.
	These cuts are a central part of the Government’s long-term economic plan. They are intended to make the UK more competitive, supporting business investment and job creation.
	Government modeling suggests that the corporation tax cuts introduced in this parliament will:
	increase business investment by between 2.5% and 4.5% (£3.6bn to £6bn in today’s prices) in the long term
	increase GDP by between 0.6% and 0.8% (£9.6bn to £12.2bn in today’s prices) in the long term
	Foreign direct investment decisions are influenced by a range of factors including skills, market access, and infrastructure. Consequently, it is difficult to isolate the exact impact of the corporation tax cuts from reform in other areas. But recently published data on inward investment has been very encouraging.
	In their 2013/2014 Inward Investment Report, UKTI said ONS data showed the value of FDI stock increased from £725.6 billion in 2010, to £936.5 billion in 2012.
	UKTI also reported that the UK attracted more inward investment projects last year than in any year since records began in the 1980s. UKTI recorded 1,773 projects, creating 66,390 new jobs.
	This is supported by analysis from Ernst and Young, who use their own independent database to assess inward investment. Ernst and Young’s Annual Attractiveness Survey, published in June, showed the number of inward investment projects in the UK had risen by 15% in the past year, against the background of a European market that grew by just 4%.
	As noted above, it is difficult to isolate the impact of tax policy on these trends, and UKTI does not have estimates of how much of the new investment has been a direct result of the lower rate of corporation tax. But it is clear that the corporation tax reforms have changed perceptions of the UK competitiveness. For the past two years, the UK has ranked highest in the KPMG survey on international tax competitiveness, ahead of countries including the US, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Income Tax

Andrew Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) the UK and (b) North Yorkshire no longer pay income tax as a result of changes in the personal income tax threshold introduced since 2010.

David Gauke: By April this year this Government's increases in the personal allowance (for those born after 5 April 1948) are estimated to have taken over 3 million individuals out of the income tax system altogether. 266,000 of these individuals live in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, which includes North Yorkshire.
	These estimates are based on the 2011-12 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2014-15 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.
	HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.

Mapeley

Ian Lavery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with regard to the Mapeley-Salisbury STEPS contract for cleaning services in Northern Ireland, how much HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has paid towards the Mapeley-Salisbury STEPS contract for cleaning services in Northern Ireland; what arrangements HMRC and Mapeley have in place to monitor the STEPS contract with staff representatives; for what reasons former civil servants employed by ISS on the Mapeley STEPS contract have not received a pay award in 2013 in line with the terms of the contract; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are unable to provide a breakdown of payments by service as this information is commercially sensitive. HMRC monitors the performance of its contractor regularly under a range of provisions. HMRC are unable to comment on the terms and conditions of ISS employees as this information is commercially sensitive.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels his Department funds.

Andrea Leadsom: HM Treasury subscribes to the following magazines:
	AGRA Facts
	Banker
	Commercial Motor Thu
	Bloomberg Business Week
	Commercial Motor Thu
	Farmers Weekly Fri
	Local Government Chron Fri
	Motor Transport Thu
	New Statesman Thu
	Private Eye Wed F/N
	Prospect
	Spectator
	Taxation Thu
	Times Education Supp Fri
	HMT does not subscribe to any subscription based TV channels.
	In 2009-10 HM Treasury was spending £189,561.41 on periodicals and newspapers. In 2013-14, this was down by 66%.

Minimum Wage

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what steps HM Revenue and Customs takes when an employer whom it has deemed to have underpaid the minimum wage absconds without repaying the money owed;
	(2)  what outstanding total of minimum wage arrears were unpaid because the employer had absconded in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many times HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has encountered employers suspected of underpaying the minimum wage who (a) falsified documents, (b) obstructed the investigation and (c) had previously been found on previous occasions by HMRC or by an employment tribunal, to have underpaid on a previous occasion in each of the last five financial years.

David Gauke: The Government takes the enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) very seriously. HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, by collating and analysing data received from various sources, HMRC ensure targeted enforcement through robust risk assessment processes to identify employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.
	The majority of employers identified as paying below national minimum wage will pay arrears on receipt of a formal notice of underpayment. Where they don’t, we will pursue recovery through the civil courts.
	For deliberate non-compliance or obstructive behaviour, we investigate at a criminal level. This could include employers who abscond.
	The statistics requested on absconded employers are not available, and HMRC does not routinely collect statistics on falsification and obstruction of investigation.
	Of those employers prosecuted within the last five financial years, there were no incidences of previous underpayment of the national minimum wage. Employment tribunals are the responsibility of HM Courts & Tribunals Service.

Ministers: Official Cars

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many journeys Ministers of his Department have made using the Government Car Service; and how many such journeys were for the transportation of a red box.

Andrea Leadsom: HM Treasury does not keep a record of Ministers' individual car journeys.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Government plans to provide help for mortgage holders in the event of an increase in interest rates.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government has taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid mortgage repayment difficulties. The Money Advice Service has been set up by Government to promote understanding of the financial system and raise levels of financial capability across the UK. The Support for Mortgage Interest scheme helps pensioners and those out of work to meet their mortgage payments. Furthermore, all borrowers can seek protection in the courts using the Pre-Action Protocol, which makes it clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.

Motor Sports: Wales

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has received any requests from the Welsh Government for loans or grants for the construction of the Circuit of Wales.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury has not received any requests for loans or grants from the Welsh Government in relation to the construction of the Circuit of Wales.

Personal Pensions

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will hold discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on addressing the challenges faced by people who are not yet retired who hold personal pensions which commenced between 1970 and 2000, and who are no longer contributing, but are being charged annual fees which reduce the amount in their pensions.

David Gauke: As a conduct of business regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority’s role is to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers, secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers, and to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system. The Government works closely with the FCA. It is, however, important that the FCA, as an independent regulatory authority, has the ability to develop rules without undue fear of direct intervention by Government.

Public Expenditure

James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library the underlying data to Chart B.5 on page 97 of the Budget 2014 Red Book in (a) percentage of gross domestic product and (b) £ million.

Priti Patel: The data (the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for debt in 2015-16 and HM Treasury projections for debt in 2035-36 under different policy assumptions with and without illustrative shocks) has been placed in the Library of the House. The forecast and projections have been provided both as a percentage of GDP and in £ million in today’s terms.

Revenue and Customs

Ian Lavery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many call attempts were made to HM Revenue and Customs contact centres on each working day between 16 June and 4 July 2014; how many such calls were answered; and how many answered calls led to a request for a needs enhanced support face-to-face meeting.

David Gauke: During this period industrial action taken by Public and Commercial Services Union members in HMRC, led to reduced staffing between 23 and 27 June 2014, with increased demand therefore impacting later weeks.
	HM Revenue and Customs Contact Centres received and answered the calls tabled below during the period requested.
	
		
			 Day Call Attempts Made Call Attempts Handled 
			 16 June 2014 391,004 261,395 
			 17 June 2014 319,565 228,150 
			 18 June 2014 309,711 214,686 
			 19 June 2014 297,266 210,399 
			 20 June 2014 292,331 193,136 
			 21 June 2014 62,369 49,090 
			 22 June 2014 Closed Closed 
			 23 June 2014 405,879 159,432 
			 24 June 2014 315,448 223,670 
			 25 June 2014 285,142 207,709 
			 26 June 2014 261,284 194,392 
			 27 June 2014 262,061 171,436 
			 28 June 2014 72,209 49,662 
			 29 June 2014 Closed Closed 
			 30 June 2014 421,030 257,619 
			 1 July 2014 332,910 231,533 
			 2 July 2014 290,915 226,957 
			 3 July 2014 273,627 218,206 
			 4 July 2014 270,626 194,765 
		
	
	During this period there were 6410 telephone requests to our telephony teams for customers to receive extra help resulting in 1706 face to face meetings being arranged. The remaining (4704) callers received the help they needed from telephone advisers.

Revenue and Customs

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid to officials in HM Revenue and Customs in bonuses and other payments in addition to salary in each of the last five years; how many officials received such payments; and what the monetary value was of the 20 largest payments made in each year.

David Gauke: HMRC operates two non-consolidated award arrangements:
	Performance awards tied to the annual performance for delegated grades (AA – grade 6) and senior civil servants; and
	A recognition bonus scheme for delegated grades which recognises exceptional in year performance. This scheme is not open to members of the SCS.
	All payments are non-consolidated and non-pensionable.
	All information has been previously disclosed in HMRC accounts and transparency declarations which can be found through the following links;
	Transparency returns
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-consolidated-performance-related-payments
	Annual accounts
	2013-14
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014
	2012-13
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-report-and-accounts-2012-13--3
	Prior to 2012
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm
	Performance awards are paid in the financial year following the performance (i.e. payments in 2009-10 relate to performance in 2008-09).

Revenue and Customs

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of telephone calls were answered by HM Revenue and Customs in less than (a) five minutes, (b) 10 minutes, (c) 15 minutes and (d) 20 minutes in each quarter of the last three years; and how many and what proportion of telephone calls to HM Revenue and Customs went unanswered in each quarter of the last three years.

David Gauke: HMRC publishes regular updates on its performance. The latest publication is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-plan-indicators

Sanitary Protection: VAT

Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has made to the European Commission on the removal of VAT on sanitary products; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government has frequent discussions with the European Commission on a wide range of issues.
	Since 2001, the UK has applied a 5% reduced rate of VAT, the lowest permissible under EU law, to the supply of sanitary products.

Self-employed: Preston

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Preston constituency were self-employed and in receipt of working tax credit in each year since 2009-10.

Priti Patel: The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available are 2012-13.
	
		
			 Preston constituency 
			 Thousand 
			 Tax year Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed 
			 2009-10 1.4 
			 2010-11 1.3 
			 2011-12 1.4 
			 2012-13 1.3

Shipping: Pay

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the additional annual cost to the public purse resulting from the extension of seafarers' earnings deduction to all EU and European Economic Area seafarers in 2011;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the (a) number of seafarers claiming the seafarers' earnings deduction (SED) and (b) the cost to the public purse of SED in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12, (iv) 2012-13 and (v) 2013-14;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the proportion of seafarers claiming seafarers' earnings deduction who were (a) basic, (b) higher and (c) additional rate income taxpayers in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12, (iv) 2012-13 and (v) 2013-14.

David Gauke: Budget 2010 published the estimated annual Exchequer cost of £5 million resulting from the extension of Seafarers’ Earnings Deduction (SED) to EU and European Economic Area seafarers from 2011.
	HMRC publishes the estimated cost of SED each December. This can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/search?q=main+tax+expenditures+and+structural+reliefs

Shipping: Pay

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) cost to the public purse of fraudulent claims for seafarers' earnings deduction in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12, (iv) 2012-13 and (v) 2013-14.

David Gauke: No estimate has been made.
	To minimise any potential for fraud, a valid claim to seafarers' earnings deduction requires the individual to supply verifiable information and claims are handled by specialist HMRC staff in a single office.

Shipping: Pay

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Office of Tax Simplification Review of Tax Reliefs: Final Report, paragraphs J.38-J.41, whether he plans to accept the report's recommendation that proposals should be brought forward to update seafarers' earnings deduction legislation in order to target better that relief.

David Gauke: The Government considers recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification carefully and keeps income tax policy, including seafarers' earnings deduction, under constant review.

Tax Evasion

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 438W, on tax evasion, what recent progress has been made by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in initiating proceedings against all current HMRC fugitives; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: HMRC continues to work towards bringing all current HMRC Fugitives facing legal proceedings before the UK Courts. They use all available systems and resources to locate and trace individuals. This includes working closely with HMRC’s Fiscal Liaison Officers based overseas, Crown Prosecution Service, National Crime Agency, Interpol and other International Partners.
	HMRC will publish an update in due course.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the cost in salaries was for those officials in his Department employed in tackling tobacco smuggling (a) in total, (b) in detection, (c) in investigations and (d) on intelligence matters in each year since 2010-11;
	(2)  what expenditure HM Revenue and Customs has incurred in operating x-ray scanners to tackle tobacco smuggling in each year since 2010-11;
	(3)  how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy in each year since 2010-11; how many of his Department's staff worked on implementing that strategy in each such year; and how many such staff were engaged in (a) detection, (b) intelligence-gathering and analysis, (c) investigations and (d) the provision of legal advice.

Priti Patel: It is not possible to provide the requested breakdown of the total HM Revenue and Customs spent on salaries for staff employed on tackling tobacco smuggling in the way requested. The total costs for each year are as follows:
	
		
			 Salary cost 
			  £ million 
			 2010-11 37.044 
			 2011-12 36.882 
			 2012-13 35.734 
			 2013-14 37.731 
		
	
	HM Revenue and Customs does not operate any x-ray scanners. Border Force has responsibility for the operation of x-ray scanners as part of the joint strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling.
	HM Revenue and Customs total expenditure on tobacco work since 2010-11 is detailed in the following table. This includes administration and policy, as well as enforcement.
	
		
			 HMRC activity 
			  Total expenditure on tobacco work (£ million) 
			 2010-11 65.750 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 68.918 
			 2012-13 67.641 
			 2013-14 76.000 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide the staff information in the format requested. However, the total figures are set out as follows:
	
		
			 HMRC activity 
			  Full-time equivalent 
			 2010-11 758 
			 2011-12 777 
			 2012-13 777 
			 2013-14 832 
		
	
	For the year 2012-13, the UK cigarette illicit market was reported at 9%, which is half the level seen a decade ago. The illicit market share for hand-rolling tobacco is 36%, lower than in 2010-11 and significantly lower than the level seen in 2008-09, when it was 50%.

VAT

Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the money annually raised through VAT on the restoration of heritage buildings.

David Gauke: No estimate has been made.

VAT

Phillip Lee: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward legislative proposals to remove VAT from death notices.

David Gauke: This is not possible under current EU VAT law.
	Although EU law allows a VAT exemption for certain costs charged by an undertaker or crematorium, this does not extend to such things as death notices, newspaper announcements, announcement cards, flowers or wreaths, all of which are standard rated.

CABINET OFFICE

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Since 2010 the number of Cabinet Office buildings has reduced from 14 to six with an annual saving of around £10 million. Further reductions are planned until 2016, to a total of three occupied properties, with a further £2 million annual saving.
	The State of the Estate Report (SofTE) provides annual progress updates on our work improving the efficiency of the Government’s Civil Estate. The Government estate is currently 2 million sq. m. smaller since January 2010. More information is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/state-of-the-estate

Cabinet: Aberdeen

Karen Lumley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the estimated cost to the public purse was of holding a Cabinet meeting in Aberdeen on 24 February 2014.

Francis Maude: The central cost of holding Cabinet in Aberdeen was £1,800. This is a considerable reduction on regional Cabinet meetings under the previous Administration, which cost between £50,000 and £100,000. Departments and agencies will also have incurred costs in terms of travel, staff time and other support. The cost of any security provided by the police is a matter for the relevant police force.
	Holding Cabinet meetings in different parts of the UK allows Ministers to hear at first hand the views of people in different areas, and Ministers visited various locations in the region following the meeting.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Ministerial replies to letters from hon. Members are hand delivered to Parliament so there is no delivery cost to the Department. The stationery used is recycled paper supplied to the Cabinet Office by Banner Business Services on a closed loop arrangement, whereby our paper waste is fully recycled and returned to us to use as copy paper. Each sheet costs 0.004 pence.

Corruption

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  when the Government's review of enforcement of anti-corruption legislation will begin; how long that review is expected to last; and in what format the results of the review will be published;
	(2)  which Government Departments will be involved in the Government's review of enforcement of anti-corruption legislation;
	(3)  what steps the Government is taking to ensure the continuity of its anti-corruption work across each relevant Department following the change in post of the Government's anti-corruption champion.

Francis Maude: The Government is reviewing the coordination and effectiveness of the UK’s enforcement response to cases of bribery and corruption. The review has commenced and is expected to conclude by the end of the year. The Home Office is leading the review supported by the Cabinet Office, Department for International Development, the Attorney-General’s Office, Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office and National Crime Agency. Ministers will consider the recommendations in due course.
	The Government has established a ministerial group on anti-corruption, attended by Ministers and officials from relevant Departments and agencies. Its work continues and is supported by officials in the Cabinet Office as well as the Home Office which leads on the co-ordination of domestic and international anti-corruption work across Departments. The Government is also working on, and will publish, a cross-departmental anti-corruption plan, setting out activity currently underway and future policy directions.

Debts

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what change there has been in household debt between 6 May 2010 and 27 June 2014.

Brooks Newmark: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what change there has been in household debt between 6 May 2010 and 27 June 2014. (206725)
	The Office for National Statistics publishes details of the combined financial liabilities of households and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH). NPISH is a relatively small contributor to the sector. The most recent analyses can be found in table A64 of the United Kingdom Economic Accounts (UKEA) 2014 Q1, published on 27 June 2014. The UKEA is available on the National Statistics web site at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/naa1-rd/united-kingdom-economic-accounts/q1-2014/index.html
	The latest data is only available for the 3 month period January-March 2014 and doesn't yet cover June as per your question.
	Household 'debt' can be interpreted as the accumulated Total financial liabilities' of the household and NPISH sector. These are predominantly made up of short and long term loans. The UKEA shows that for households and NPISH, the combined Total financial liabilities' in 2014 Q1 was £1,557.6 billion. This compares with a 2010 Q2 figure of £1,530.8 billion. Household and NPISH Total financial liabilities' have, therefore, risen £26.8 billion between 2010 Q2 and 2014 Q1.
	All values are current price series (also known as nominal, cash or value series)-these are expressed in terms of the prices of the time period being estimated. In other words, they describe the actual price charged or paid for the goods or services at time of production or consumption.

Government Departments: Pay

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which government departments do not pay all employees the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how much less than the living wage those departments pay.

Francis Maude: The information requested is not held centrally.
	For staff outside the Senior Civil Service, individual Departments have delegated authority to set their own pay levels, based on their own recruitment and retention needs.

Military Decorations

Bob Russell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when he plans to make an announcement on recommendations relating to the award of the National Defence Medal.

Francis Maude: Sir John Holmes’ further work to implement the recommendations set out in his Military Medals Review included a review of the case for some form of National Defence Medal, to recognise all military service. As Sir John noted in his report of July 2012, the National Defence Medal is an issue of national significance which would require a broad political and public consensus and consideration by the government as a whole, in consultation with other political parties and concerned organisations.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many women are known to have died of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in each year since 2000.

Brooks Newmark: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson dated September 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Health how many women are known to have died of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in each year since 2000. (206969)
	ONS holds mortality data for England and Wales based on the information provided at death registration. All conditions mentioned on the medical certificate of cause of death are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Since 2001, the ICD, Tenth Revision has been used to code deaths in which code N98.1 specifically identifies hyperstimulation of ovaries. Specific codes to identify this condition were not available in earlier revisions of the ICD.
	Between 2001 and 2013 (the latest year available), two deaths have been registered in England and Wales where hyperstimulation of ovaries was recorded as the underlying cause of death (one in 2005 and one in 2006). In addition, one death was registered in 2008 which had hyperstimulation of ovaries mentioned on the death certificate, but this was not the underlying cause of death.
	The number of deaths registered in England and Wales each year by sex, age and underlying cause, are published annually on the ONS website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/mortality-statistics--deaths-registered-in-england-and-wales--series-dr-/index.html

Pay: Brigg

Andrew Percy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of people in Brigg and Goole constituency who are paid at a rate below the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Brooks Newmark: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of people in Brigg and Goole constituency who are paid at a rate below the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation (207032).
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Hourly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. It is not possible to estimate the number of people with earnings below specified thresholds, though it is possible to estimate the corresponding proportion of employee jobs. Figures relate to employee jobs, which are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed.
	In April 2013, the latest period for which results are available, the Living Wage rate suggested by the Living Wage Foundation was £7.45 per hour for employees who did not work in London. The proportion of employee jobs below this rate in Brigg and Goole in April 2013 was 27.0%. **
	Guide to quality:
	The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV. For example, for an estimate of 50% with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 45% to 55%. This is given by 50% +/- ({2*0.05}*50).
	Key:
	** CV > 10% and <= 20%

Voluntary Work

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what research he has commissioned on the number of people who volunteer and the reasons for people not volunteering since May 2010.

Brooks Newmark: The Cabinet Office has commissioned the Community Life Survey which provides official statistics on volunteering, giving and community engagement. Latest data shows that in 2013-14 74% of people volunteered (either informally or formally), an increase from 65% in 2010-11.
	The survey also captures why people do not volunteer. More information can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/community-life-survey

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Systems

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what proportion of the public were (a) satisfied and (b) dissatisfied with the process of voting in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the most recent year for which data is available.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that its 2013 winter tracker survey provides the most recent public opinion data on satisfaction with the process of voting in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This research found that nearly three in four (72%) were very or fairly satisfied with the process of voting. Seven per cent were very or fairly dissatisfied. The remainder said that they were ‘Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’ (18%) or ‘Didn’t know’ (2%).
	The full topline findings are available on the Commission’s website at:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/our-work/our-research/public-opinion-surveys
	The Commission’s May 2014 post-election public opinion survey, which contains a question on satisfaction with the procedure for voting, will also be published on the same section of the website shortly.

Pay

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many employees of the Commission, of each grade, have remained at the same grade since 2010 and in that period received pay rises.

Gary Streeter: The Commission’s staff are not members of the civil service. It does not apply a civil service grading structure with incremental scales and so cannot provide the information as requested.
	In 2010-11 and 2011-12 there were no pay awards given to its staff. In subsequent years the 1% public sector pay cap has been applied to all of its staff.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Attorney-General if he will review the Law Officers' Departments departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been engaged in a programme of estate reduction since 2010 which has reduced the annual running cost of its estate by £9.32 million. This has been achieved by reducing the size of the estate from 95 buildings in 2010 to 59 sites, 15 of which are currently vacant or being used as storage and business continuity sites.
	The CPS Estate Rationalisation Programme will continue into 2016 and by the end of 2016 the department expects to reduce the size of the estate to approximately 35 occupied buildings and 10 vacant sites with leases due to expire, reducing running costs by a further £10 million per annum.
	The other Law Officers’ Departments do not have sizable estates but have made significant efforts to reduce their estate running costs since 2010, including initiatives such as relocation to more cost effective properties and sharing premises with other organisations. The departmental estate costs of all departments are continually kept under review.
	Full details on the size of the Government estate-including the Law Officers’ Departments-can be found in the latest State of the Estate Report (SofTE) which reports annually on progress made during the year in improving the efficiency of the Government’s Civil Estate. This is available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/state-of-the-estate

Consultants

Keith Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 184W, on consultants, who the consultants were; what they were contracted to do; and how much each was paid.

Robert Buckland: The information requested in respect of the Crown Prosecution Service was contained in an answer given to the right hon. Member by the Attorney-General on 16July 2014, Official Report, column 678W.
	The following table contains details on the consultants used by the SFO since 2010-11.
	
		
			  Contractor Work type Amount (£000) 
			 2010-11 PA Consultancy Support work for senior management 986 
			  Corven Development work relating to Deferred Prosecution Agreements: coaching 480 
			  SCC IT consultancy 60 
			  DTZ Preparation of Business case for relocation and satellite offices 24 
			  Morland Consulting Research & Support Strategic Risk Assessment 10 
			  Processflows Ltd IT consultancy 1 
			  Ravn Systems Ltd IT consultancy 7 
			     
			 2011-12 PA Consultancy Support work for senior management 208 
			  Corven Consultancy work relating to Deferred Prosecution Agreements 542 
			  BNP Paribas Lease surrender 61 
			  Ravn Systems IT consultancy 44 
			  Hill and Knowlton Communication advice 1 
			     
			 2012-13 PA Consultancy Late invoice for work in 2011-12 (as above) 31 
			     
			 2013-14 SCC IT consultancy 32 
			  CIO Partners Preparation of specialist IT specification 2 
			  Others1 Data management reviews 14 
			 1 Two individuals carried out some work relating to an incident of data loss. Notes: 1. Records for this type of expenditure were not properly documented prior to April 2012. Available records are summarised above: 2. The combined total of costs for the year 2010/11 does not match SFO’s previously published figures. The previous figure was understated by £10k because of credits for late invoices relating to 2009/10 which had been incorrectly categorised as consultancy expenditure.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Attorney-General if he will take steps to increase the number of replies within the Law Officers' Departments' working day standard; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Buckland: Performance in meeting targets is kept under regular review by Ministers and senior management in the Law Officer's Departments, and every effort is being made to ensure that levels of performance are maintained or improved upon.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Attorney-General if he will estimate the annual cost to the Law Officers' Departments of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The stationery and postage costs incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members are not separately identifiable from general office stationery and postage costs.

Court Orders

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of judicial orders and instructions were complied with by the Crown Prosecution Service (a) on time, (b) late and (c) not at all in each of the last 15 years.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has maintained a central record of the number of, and compliance with, judicial directions since April 2012.
	Current CPS data on the number and proportion of judicial directions complied with by the CPS (and timeliness) is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  (a) Timely Compliance (b) Late Compliance (c) Not Complied With Total 
			  No. % No. % No. % No. 
			 2012-13 44,006 54.8 25,186 31.4 11,090 13.8 80,282 
			 2013-14 89,955 74.0 21,977 18.1 9,575 7.9 121,507 
			 Source: CPS Case Management Information System 
		
	
	The CPS is evaluating its compliance with Judge’s directions, including its processes for recording such data.
	No central record of judicial directions was maintained prior to April 2012. Obtaining the above information for periods prior to April 2012 would involve a review of individual case files incurring a disproportionate cost.

Crown Courts

Philip Davies: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2014, Official Report, column 678W, on Crown courts, what the number of defendants was in each category for each type of offence in 2013-14.

Jeremy Wright: Further to the answer provided on 16 July 2014, the number of defendants in each category for each type of offence in 2013-14 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  (i) Offer no evindence1 (ii) Judge ordered acquittal (iii) Judge directed acquittal (iv) Acquittal after trial Total Prosecuted 
			  Number  
			 A Homicide 26 37 10 125 910 
			 B Offences Against The Person 2,322 3,048 176 1,633 21,223 
			 C Sexual Offences 663 870 72 1,685 8,755 
			 D Burglary 806 1,192 48 278 11,471 
		
	
	
		
			 E Robbery 716 943 65 307 6,810 
			 F Theft And Handling 619 913 52 239 6,854 
			 G Fraud And Forgery 371 498 37 238 5,433 
			 H Criminal Damage 70 114 4 25 1,160 
			 I Drugs Offences 565 823 32 307 15,567 
			 J Public Order Offences 438 628 24 233 5,164 
			 K All Other Offences (excluding Motoring) 586 835 40 265 5,895 
			 L Motoring Offences 109 148 15 69 2,233 
			 Total Principal Offence Categories 7,291 10,049 575 5,404 91,475 
			 Principal Offence Category Not Allocated 504 665 45 180 1,971 
			 Total 7,795 10,714 620 5,584 93,446 
			 1 Offered no evidence is a subset of Judge ordered acquittals. Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

Crown Prosecution Service

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what steps he plans to take in response to the finding of HM Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Inspector in his Annual Report 2013-14, page 12, that there was a considerable decline in performance of the CPS in that year in relation to how it handled its disclosure obligations.

Robert Buckland: The CPS is committed to the proper application of the disclosure provisions in the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and is already engaged in a range of activities that will improve performance in this area:
	A disclosure assurance regime is in place for Crown Court disclosure;
	The CPS contributed to the Kinch/Riddle review into disclosure in the magistrates courts and is implementing the recommendations as part of the cross-CJS efforts to transform summary justice. This will mean more targeted and effective disclosure at first hearing in magistrates courts; and
	CPS has addressed the recommendations of the Gross reviews and the HMCPSI review of disclosure in R v. Mouncher to further improve performance.
	The CPS continues to look at how compliance with the disclosure regime can be improved and will actively consider further initiatives as necessary.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Attorney-General how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within the Law Officers' Departments' responsibility.

Jeremy Wright: None. The UK has not been subject to infraction proceedings, during this period, which relate directly to matters within the Law Officers' Departments' areas of responsibility.

Law Officers' Departments

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Attorney-General which regulations of the Law Officers' Departments are under review; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: No regulations are currently under review.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Attorney-General how much and what proportion of the Law Officers' Departments' budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of the Law Officers' Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Jeremy Wright: Tables showing the information requested for the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office have been placed in the Library of the House.
	The remaining Law Officers’ Departments are unable to provide any reliable estimates of the amount spent annually on contracted out services since 2009-10 without incurring a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Expenditure on contracted out activities in the CPS and SFO 2009-2014 
			 Expenditure on contracted out services in the Serious Fraud Office between 2009/10 and 2004/15 
			   Contracted out activities Counsel and other legal fees Accountancy fees 
			 2009/10 Expenditure (£000) 5,929 4,354 2,036 
			  Proportion of total budget (%) 14 11 5 
			      
			 2010/11 Expenditure (£000) 4,522 4,524 1,008 
			  Proportion of total budget (%) 12 12 3 
			      
			 2011/12 Expenditure (£000) 3,934 4,822 823 
			  Proportion of total budget (%) 12 15 2 
		
	
	
		
			      
			 2012/13 Expenditure (£000) 2,870 5,957 1,357 
			  Proportion of total budget (%) 6 13 3 
			      
			 2013/14 Expenditure (£000) 2,681 19,078 2,020 
			  Proportion of total budget (%) 5 36 4 
			      
			 2014/15 Estimated expenditure 2,989 7,449 1,360 
			  Proportion of total budget 8 21 4 
			 Notes: 1. The table shows expenditure as a proportion of the NET total budget. 2. The increase in expenditure in 2013/14 is from ‘blockbuster’ cases and civil litigation. The estimated expenditure for 2014/15 does not include expenditure on these matters as funding for this is subject to agreement as part of the supplementary estimates procedure. 
		
	
	
		
			 Expenditure on contracted out services in the Crown Prosecution Service between 2009/10 and 2004/15 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			  Outturn (£000) As a proportion of the budget (%) Outturn (£000) As a proportion of the budget (%) Outturn (£000) As a proportion of the budget (%) 
			 Contracted out services 79,431 11.53 75,354 11.72 69,990 11.26 
			 Advocate fees 135,296 19.63 134,195 20.87 111,041 17.86 
			 Total 214,727 31.16 209,549 32.59 181,031 29.11 
		
	
	
		
			  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			  Outturn (£000) As a proportion of the budget(%) Outturn (£000) As a proportion of the budget(%) Forecast (£000) As a proportion of the budget(%) 
			 Contracted out services 57,358 9.69 57,112 10.15 50,848 9.81 
			 Advocate fees 110,609 18.69 114,607 20.37 108,110 20.86 
			 Total 167,967 28.38 171,718 30.52 158,958 30.67 
			 Notes: 1. The budget for 2014/15 is taken from the Crown Prosecutions Service's Main Estimate. 2. The forecast outturn figures for 2014/15 have been calculated as a linear extrapolation based on expenditure in prior years.

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many and what proportion of all (a) Crown Prosecution Service and (b) Serious Fraud Office cases were prosecuted by external counsel in 2013-14 and each of the five preceding years; and what the cost to each agency was of such counsel in each such year.

Jeremy Wright: Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cases are not prosecuted exclusively by self-employed advocates or in-house advocates. Many cases are transferred between self-employed and in-house advocates and therefore it is not possible to report on the number or proportion of cases prosecuted solely by one type of advocate or the other.
	However, the CPS does record the proportion of work undertaken across the 13 CPS Areas in the Crown court by self-employed advocates by value, in accordance with the graduated fee scheme (GFS). CPS records show:
	
		
			 Crown Court Advocacy (13 Area position)—Self-employed advocates 
			  % of prosecutions by GFS value 
			 2008-09 78 
			 2009-10 75 
			 2010-11 72 
			 2011-12 69 
			 2012-13 70 
			 2013-14 71 
		
	
	The cost to the CPS of fees paid to self-employed advocates in relation to Crown court and Higher Court advice, preparation and advocacy for each of the last six years is:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2013-14 114,606,541 
			 2012-13 110,608,524 
			 2011-12 111,041,044 
			 2010-11 134,194,869 
			 2009-10 135,296,368 
			 2008-09 127,132,677 
			 Note: Figures include VAT and are all fees paid to self-employed advocates not just those paid under the graduated fee scheme. 
		
	
	All of the cases prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office in the Crown court are prosecuted by external counsel. Costs associated with this are detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  Fees to counsel relating to prosecution work (£000) 
			 2008-09 3,146 
			 2009-10 2,313 
			 2010-11 3,651 
			 2011-12 4,008 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 3,548 
			 2013-14 4,167

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  how many (a) investigations were carried out, (b) individuals were charged, (c) corporates were charged, (d) criminal prosecutions were launched and (e) criminal convictions were secured by the Serious Fraud Office in (i) 2012-13 and (ii) each of the five preceding years;
	(2)  how many people have been convicted by the Serious Fraud Office in 2013-14 and each of the previous five years;
	(3)  how many prosecutions have been completed by the Serious Fraud Office in 2013-14 and each of the previous five years.

Robert Buckland: 11 convictions were secured in 2013-14 and 16 prosecutions were completed in 2013-14 (including those with convictions).
	The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigates and, where appropriate, prosecutes cases of serious or complex fraud (including cases of domestic or overseas bribery and corruption) which, in the opinion of the Director of the SFO, call for the multi-disciplinary approach and legislative powers available to the SFO. Since April 2012, the SFO’s caseload has been recalibrated so that it is taking on fewer and more complex cases, as envisaged by the Roskill model.
	The SFO’s Intelligence Unit will assess all matters referred to the SFO whether by the public, the police or other agencies or organisations and refer those considered suitable for acceptance to a Case Evaluation Board before submission to the Director for his decision to open a criminal investigation under the Criminal Justice Act 1987.
	SFO investigations are complex, and this can sometimes lead to investigations merging or splitting into different parts. For instance, the Libor investigation is into numerous financial institutions, and there are other large investigations which have been subdivided.
	The information requested for earlier years is contained in the following table.
	
		
			  2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 
			 Number of investigations opened 8 10 13 17 20 18 
			 Number of individuals charged 18 24 25 57 31 20 
			 Number of corporates charged 0 0 1 2 0 1 
			 Number of convictions secured 14 39 23 24 33 17 
			 Number of prosecutions completed by defendant (including those convicted) 20 54 28 26 54 25 
			 Notes: 1. Two cases have been opened, closed, and then re-opened. These have been counted only once in the data above. 2. Prior to April 2012 the SFO did not collate all of its casework data centrally and it is therefore possible that some records form this period may not have been identified. The SFO is currently carrying out a project to ensure that its reporting systems are more robust in the future.

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Serious Fraud Office spent on civil claims in which it was the respondent in 2013-14.

Robert Buckland: The Serious Fraud Office spent £10,833k on civil claims in which it was the respondent in 2013-14, including legal costs and other payments.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Burma

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the UK gave in aid to Burma in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013; and how much aid it plans to give to Burma in 2014; and what pre-conditions have been applied to such aid donations for Burma receiving aid.

Desmond Swayne: The latest version of Statistics for International Development was published in October 2013 and contains the following UK Official Development Assistance outturn figures for Burma: 2010, £29 million; 2011, £39 million; 2012, £30 million. In June 2013 DFID published a revised Operational Plan for Burma, which contains projected figures for DFID spend in: 2012-13, £32 million; 2013-14, £56 million; 2014-15, £60 million. No UK aid goes directly to the Government of Burma, as programme or budget support.

Burma

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many UK aid agencies are currently operating in Rakine State, Burma.

Desmond Swayne: The UN managed Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU) lists international NGOs working in Rakhine State. MIMU’s information is available on the internet. The choice of where individual UK agencies operate is a matter for those agencies.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will estimate the annual cost to her Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if she will make a statement.

Desmond Swayne: Based on approximately 3,500 replies a year we estimate the annual cost of replying to hon. members as: (a) £525, (b) £1,650.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether she has any plans to increase the number of replies within her Department's working day standard; and if she will make a statement.

Desmond Swayne: The handling of correspondence is given the highest priority by my Department and we aim to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to ensure that UK assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo is not misused or misappropriated.

Justine Greening: DFID takes seriously tackling the misuse or misappropriation of UK Aid, and has a range of robust controls and measures in place to safeguard the UK taxpayers’ money.
	In the DRC this includes regular rigorous risk assessments of the fiduciary environment to determine the way in which UK Aid is provided. Currently this means DFID funds in DRC are channelled through United Nations agencies and NGOs, rather than provided directly to the Government. All partners selected are subject to pre-funding due diligence checks and regular scrutiny during implementation.

Developing Countries: Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how the £1 million pledged by the UK to the UN's Safe Schools Initiative is being used to ensure that children are being protected.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID is providing technical support to the design and development of the Safe Schools Initiative, as well as working through our existing education programmes in northern Nigeria to ensure safe access to learning. The Safe Schools Initiative was launched in May. The Government of Nigeria are leading on implementation. The aim is to provide a response for the protection of schools and the prevention of future attacks on schools. It will include a combination of school-based and community interventions to create safer environments in which schools can operate, improve school security measures and support provision of safe opportunities for learning.

Middle East

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the UK is taking to ensure that all Palestinian civilians made homeless during Operation Protective Edge will have their homes rebuilt as swiftly as possible.

Desmond Swayne: This conflict has taken a terrible toll. Initial damage assessments point to destruction on an unprecedented scale, with more than 100,000 Gazans left homeless. Reconstruction will require a durable ceasefire, an agreed approach on security, predictable and sustained access for people and goods in and out of Gaza, and good governance arrangements. The UK continues to work with international partners to this end.

Palestinians

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department allocates to Palestine; and if she will commission a review of how effective that funding is in serving her Department's objectives in Palestine.

Desmond Swayne: DFID will provide nearly £350 million in support of Palestinian development from 2011-15. In addition, we have also provided £17 million of emergency aid since the current conflict began. We regularly review progress and assess that UK aid is on track to deliver key results as set out in our Operational Plan.
	Additionally, the International Development Committee’s recent report was supportive of the work that we are doing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, while noting the need for political progress.

Palestinians

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding her Department has allocated to aid Palestinian citizens who have been injured, orphaned, made homeless and lost their livelihoods as a result of Israel's recent air strikes; and whether she plans to keep the level of such funding under review in the light of future developments in that conflict.

Desmond Swayne: DFID is one of the biggest donors to the Gaza crisis, providing over £17 million of emergency aid since the current conflict began. The level of funding is being kept under constant review.

Palestinians

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether she will make any changes to aid allocations as a result of the violence in Gaza.

Desmond Swayne: DFID is providing nearly £350 million from 2011-15 to address a broad range of Palestinian development and humanitarian needs, including relieving the humanitarian impact of the occupation of Gaza. We have provided over £17 million of emergency aid since the current conflict began. We keep the level of our funding under constant review.

Papua New Guinea

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many programmes based in Papua New Guinea have been considered for funding since April 2004; and how many have received funding.

Desmond Swayne: DFID does not have a bilateral programme with Papua New Guinea. DFID has funded proposals through challenge fund procedures like the Civil Society Challenge Fund (CSCF) which can be viewed on the Development Tracker:
	http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/location/country/

St Helena

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will place in the Library a copy of the audit of the accounts of the St Helena airport construction project in each of the last three years.

Desmond Swayne: The St Helena airport project is monitored on a regular basis by its project board and is also subject to additional scrutiny by the Major Projects Authority (MPA).

St Helena

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much energy prices on St Helena have increased in each of the last four years; and what estimate she has made of the likely change in such prices in each of the next three years.

Desmond Swayne: From April 2010 to April 2014 the unit price of electricity per kilowatt hour in St Helena increased by 2.5p, 1.75p, 1.9p and 0.8p in each respective financial year, increasing the unit price for median consumption rates over this period from 15p to 22p per kilowatt hour.
	Future energy prices on St Helena will be decided by the island’s private utility company and regulator.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Universal Jobmatch

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the performance of his Department's universal jobmatch website.

Esther McVey: Recent assessments of Universal Jobmatch confirm that the service continues to play an important role in the way jobseekers look for work. This is endorsed by the National Audit Office's recent informal review. This concluded they were satisfied with the ongoing approach to ensuring Universal Jobmatch continues to remain accessible and dynamic for jobseekers.
	Universal Jobmatch has already helped many jobseekers find the jobs they want through the millions of vacancies posted since 2012, and delivers a successful transformation in the way benefit claimants look for work.

Benefit Cap

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the employment outcomes of people affected by the benefit cap.

Esther McVey: The latest official statistics, which are available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/341890/benefit-cap-may-2014.pdf
	show that by May 2014, 39% of those no longer subject to the cap, 7,400 households, have moved into work, as shown by them having an open working tax credit claim. In addition to this there may be a small number of cases who have moved into work with sufficiently high salaries that they are not entitled to working tax credit.
	The DWP will be evaluating the policy and, where possible, its impacts on employment later this year and expect to publish these findings in autumn 2014.

Under-occupancy Penalty

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the operation of the under-occupancy penalty so that it applies only when suitable alternative accommodation is readily available.

Esther McVey: The removal of the spare room subsidy remains government policy. There are no plans to amend this.

Personal Independence Payment

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how long the average wait for an assessment for a personal independence payment was on the latest date for which figures are available.

Mark Harper: The wait for an assessment faced by some claimants is unacceptable. We are committed to putting that right by clearing backlogs and improving processing times.
	We intend to publish statistics on the time taken to clear cases in the near future and my analysts are considering what information the publication will include. We will pre-announce the publication in due course, in line with the UK Statistics Authority code of practice.

Asbestos

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent steps his Department has taken to publicise the risks associated with asbestos.

Mark Harper: The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) recent efforts on publicising the risks associated with asbestos has been through its general operational and other activities with at-risk groups as appropriate, backed by a comprehensive package of advice and guidance on the dedicated asbestos web pages of the HSE’s website. A revised Approved Code of Practice to support the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 has also been produced.
	HSE will also launch a bespoke asbestos behaviour change campaign in autumn 2014. This will target those workers most at risk and aims to get them to recognise that asbestos is relevant to them and their work place, and encourage them to seek reliable information about how they can protect themselves, so reducing needless deaths.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: DWP undertakes regular reviews of its estate to ensure it delivers the best service for claimants and employers while delivering best value for money for the taxpayer.

Conditions of Employment

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 722W, what information his Department (a) holds and (b) has commissioned on the number of jobseekers moving into zero-hours contract jobs.

Esther McVey: Information on jobseekers moving into zero-hours contract jobs is not held nor has it been commissioned. Information published by the Office for National Statistics suggests zero-hours contracts make up a relatively small part of the overall labour market, accounting for about 2% of all people in work.
	Jobseekers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance are not required to apply for zero-hours contract vacancies, they will not be sanctioned as a result of not applying. UC claimants who refuse to accept a zero hours contract job offer, without good reason, can be subject to a sanction. However a UC claimant will not be sanctioned for refusing to take a zero hours contract with an exclusivity clause.
	Universal Credit automatically adjusts benefit payments depending on the number of hours a person works—whatever the type of contract. Where Universal Credit claimants refuse to apply for a role, including a Zero Hours Contract role when mandated to do so or refuse to accept a job offer, they can be sanctioned. People on Universal Credit will not be required to sign up to zero hours contracts which require exclusivity, so they will always have the opportunity to gain more hours elsewhere.

Employment and Support Allowance

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment and support allowance claimants with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis, (c) motor neurone disease, (d) multiple sclerosis and (e) Parkinson's disease have been (i) placed in the support group, (ii) placed in the work-related activity group and (iii) found fit for work since 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Harper: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Outcomes of initial and repeat Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) functional assessments and Incapacity Benefits Reassessments (IBR) by disease code: October 2008-September 2013 
			   Cystic Fibrosis Spinal Muscular Atrophy Parkinson’s Disease Multiple Sclerosis Other Rheumatoid Arthritis 
			 Initial claim SG 600 900 1,100 5,200 2,100 
			  WRAG 100 100 700 2,500 3,100 
			  FFW 100 - 500 1,600 3,500 
			 Repeat claim SG 400 200 900 5,700 3,200 
			  WRAG 100 - 500 2,100 3,600 
			  FFW - - 100 300 1,000 
			 IBR claim SG 500 200 1,100 13,400 5,000 
			  WRAG 100 - 300 2,500 4,900 
			  FFW - - - 300 1,100 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. “-” denotes nil or under 50. 2. SG-Support Group WRAG-Work Related Activity Group FFW-Fit For Work 3. The outcome recorded is the final DWP Decision Maker’s decision or the recommendation made by the Atos Healthcare Professional where the Decision Maker’s decision is not yet available. 4. Motor neurone disease is shown in the table as 'Spinal muscular atrophy'. 5. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. In October 2008, ESA replaced IB for new claims. Starting with a trial in October 2010, and reaching a full scale national roll-out in April 2011, existing IB claims began to be phased out, with claimants reassessed to see if they qualify for ESA instead. 6. The reassessment of existing incapacity benefits claimants was rolled out nationally from April 2011. Source: Data in the table above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.

Employment Services: Disability

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many disability employment advisers were employed by his Department and its executive agencies in each of the last 60 months; and what his future policy is on the number of advisers employed.

Esther McVey: holding answer 22 July 2014
	The information is as follows.
	
		
			 ABM FTE disability employment adviser function figures, 2009/10 to 2104/15 
			 2009/10 ABM FTE 2010/11 ABM FTE 2011/12 ABM FTE 
			 Apr-09 430.24 Apr-10 490.90 Apr-11 572.80 
			 May-09 431.11 May-10 498.74 May-11 583.20 
			 Jun-09 417.78 Jun-10 490.63 Jun-11 586.62 
			 Jul-09 416.37 Jul-10 491.24 Jul-11 579.83 
			 Aug-09 420.70 Aug-10 488.76 Aug-11 570.24 
			 Sep-09 441.73 Sep-10 490.79 Sep-11 557.13 
			 Oct-09 460.50 Oct-10 500.23 Oct-11 552.32 
			 Nov-09 471.50 Nov-10 516.62 Nov-11 546.90 
			 Dec-09 478.65 Dec-10 503.00 Dec-11 538.82 
			 Jan-10 475.18 Jan-11 501.00 Jan-12 528.10 
			 Feb-10 481.02 Feb-11 510.77 Feb-12 527.35 
			 Mar-10 487.83 Mar-11 523.26 Mar-12 526.39 
		
	
	
		
			 2012/13 ABM FTE 2013/14 ABM FTE 2014/15 ABM FTE 
			 Apr-12 531.45 Apr-13 490.99 Apr-14 413.28 
			 May-12 528.66 May-13 484.30 May-14 408.75 
			 Jun-12 527.11 Jun-13 471.13 — — 
			 Jul-12 524.98 Jul-13 458.84 — — 
			 Aug-12 523.61 Aug-13 447.90 — — 
			 Sep-12 520.50 Sep-13 439.40 — — 
			 Oct-12 519.39 Oct-13 437.78 — — 
			 Nov-12 517.53 Nov-13 432.26 — — 
			 Dec-12 507.97 Dec-13 425.84 — — 
			 Jan-13 506.38 Jan-14 418.09 — — 
			 Feb-13 512.69 Feb-14 413.61 — — 
			 Mar-13 516.56 Mar-14 402.75 — — 
			 Key: ABM = Activity Based Management System FTE = Full Time Equivalent staff resource Note: Includes all advisory activity conducted by the Disability Employment Adviser function regardless of client group or interview type. Figures do not include any Management, Operational Support or Business Support apportionment. 
		
	
	The table provided is a snapshot of the number of full time equivalent staff deployed in the disability employment adviser function. District Managers ensure these staff are deployed to meet local requirements.
	DEA numbers increased in 2010 to support the implementation of the ‘Work Choice' programme as the DEA was the main referral route way. The numbers continued to rise as the flow onto the programme increased. Once the demand slowed, DEA numbers were reduced accordingly. During this period, the Work Programme was also launched which provided dedicated specialist support for customers.
	In addition the training for DWP mainstream advisers has been enhanced to better equip them to meet the requirements of customers with complex needs.
	We recognise the value this role brings in working with claimants with a range of disabilities, and ill health conditions, as well as linking up with local provision of services. Future policy on how many disability employment advisers are employed is being considered as part of the future Disability and Health Employment Strategy.

Employment Services: Disability

Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  whether disability employment advisers will remain part of the support offered to claimants under universal credit;
	(2)  what his policy is on retaining disability employment advisors as part of the support offered to clients by jobcentre plus.

Esther McVey: The Disability and Health Employment Strategy published in December 2013 sets out our expectation that the work carried out by DEAs in jobcentres will continue.

Employment: Males

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Men's Sheds movement in building confidence and skills to help people back into work.

Esther McVey: No formal assessment of the effectiveness of the Men’s Sheds movement has been made to date.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

Esther McVey: The UK has never been fined for an infraction.

Funeral Payments

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many current applications for funeral expenses from the Social Fund have been outstanding for longer than (a) 16 days, (b) 18 days and (c) 21 days.

Steve Webb: This information is not held in the format requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Health and Safety Executive

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he estimates he will (a) receive and (b) publish the findings of the Health and Safety Executive Review Panel on Fee for Intervention.

Mark Harper: The independent review of the 'fee for intervention' scheme operated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has completed and I am considering its recommendations. The report will be published later this year.

Independent Living Fund

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 176W, on the Independent Living Fund, whether funding provided to local authorities and devolved administrations in 2015-16 to meet their additional responsibilities to former Independent Living Fund users will be ring-fenced for that purpose.

Mark Harper: The Government's position on how local authorities manage their finances is clear; local authorities need to be allowed to meet their statutory responsibilities in a flexible and responsive way and the ring-fencing of funding prevents this. Allowing local authorities the flexibility to manage their budgets locally means they can respond to local priorities to deliver more efficient services and better outcomes.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Disqualification

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how long it takes for (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful challenges to jobseeker's allowance sanctions to be processed;
	(2)  what guidance he issues to his departmental staff on how long it should take to process a challenge to jobseeker's allowance.

Esther McVey: Cases are dealt with individually therefore there is not set length. All claims are processed as quickly and efficiently as possible. There is no statutory time limit. We deliberately do not have one because each case will be considered on its merits. Some will require just days, others longer.

Jobseeker’s Allowance: Older People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average length of time claimants over 50 spent on jobseeker's allowance in each year since 2009.

Esther McVey: Information we have for the number of jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) claimants, aged 50 and over, by median duration of a completed spell of unemployment, in each year since 2009 is available at:
	https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/Default.asp
	Guidance for users can be found at:
	https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
	Note
	Median is a better measure of “average” than arithmetic mean for skewed distributions such as duration of claim.

Occupational Health

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the budget of the Health and Work Service will be in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Mark Harper: There is an available budget for the Health and Work Service across Great Britain of £38.4 million in 2014-15 to cover set-up and live running, and £38.4 million in 2015-16 to cover live running.

Occupational Health

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what companies have expressed an interest to his Department in tendering for the Health and Work Service.

Mark Harper: The Health and Work Service procurement (which followed an Open procurement route) has now concluded. We received four expressions of interest. These were from Health Management Ltd, Ingeus UK Ltd, OPTUM and SOMA.
	The successful organisation was Health Management Ltd.
	The winning tender and contract was published on Contracts Finder on 21 August 2014.

Public Expenditure

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was transferred from his Department to HM Treasury as part of the Budget Exchange scheme in each financial year since 2010-11.

Steve Webb: The information is as follows.
	
		
			  Amount (£ million) 
			 2010-11 3.2 
			 2011-12 82.9 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 0 
			 2013-14 76.0

Senior Civil Servants

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many senior civil servants in his Department can authorise the purchase of alcohol for official purposes.

Steve Webb: There are currently six senior civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions who can authorise the purchase of alcohol for official purposes.

Senior Civil Servants

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  under what circumstances senior civil servants are required to give express prior written permission for expenses; and what such expenses are;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 14 July 2014, Official Report, columns 587-8W, on public expenditure, how many times and for what occasions senior civil servants had given express prior written permission for expenses to be claimed in the last year.

Steve Webb: Personal expense claims are authorised in business areas across all the DWP operational and corporate units. This information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress he is making on reducing the number of incorrectly completed sanction referral forms submitted by Work Programme providers; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: The vast majority of referrals are correct, however the Department is committed to driving best practice therefore in January 2014 the Department introduced a Provider Quality Assurance Framework to support providers in the completion of high quality and appropriate sanction referrals. To back this up in the autumn of 2014 the Department is starting a pilot in which Jobcentre Plus labour market decision makers will work directly with providers and provide on site coaching to help them eradicate inappropriate sanction referrals.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many outstanding investigations for benefit fraud there were of over (a) three, (b) six or (c) 12 months duration in each region and constituent part of the UK on the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Harper: This information can be provided only by examining individual investigation files at disproportionate time and cost.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he last met Jobcentre Plus to discuss investigations into benefit fraud.

Mark Harper: It would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to discuss individual operational investigations. He has had several meetings to discuss the Department’s approach to targeting fraud and error. His last meeting was on 12 May 2014.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria he uses to decide whether people who have to wait more than a certain time for the medical assessment for access to benefits should be eligible for compensation.

Mark Harper: The Department operates a discretionary special payment scheme. The policy and guiding principles of the scheme are described in “Financial Redress for Maladministration” which is available on Gov.UK.
	Employment and support allowance claimants will normally be in receipt of benefit while they wait for their assessment and any arrears due are paid once a decision is made.
	By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for a personal independence payment assessment for longer than 26 weeks. By the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.
	Any delays experienced in the personal independence payment new claims process will not affect the date from which claimants are paid–all successful claims will be paid from the date the claim was initially made.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy to compensate people who wait more than a certain amount of time for assessments for personal independence payment or other benefits to be carried out by Atos or Capita;
	(2)  if he will make it his policy to compensate people whose assessment appointments for personal independence payment or other benefits are cancelled more than a certain number of times by Atos or Capita.

Mark Harper: DWP does not operate a blanket approach to compensation. Claimants who consider their assessment has been delayed by Atos or Capita should in the first instance take this up with the relevant company, who each have their own complaints process. If the complaint cannot be resolved, complainants will be signposted to DWP’s independent complaint tier, the Independent Case Examiner (ICE). If the ICE upholds the complaint, they will recommend redress for any impact on the complainant, in line with DWP policy on:
	Financial Redress for Maladministration

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on fast-tracking benefits for terminally ill people.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer that the previous Minister for Disabled People gave on 14 July 2014, Official Report, column 589W, to the hon. Member for East Lothian (Fiona O'Donnell).

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the average amount of time it takes for terminally ill people to receive a decision on their benefits claim.

Mark Harper: We have taken your question to refer to personal independence payment. Statistics on clearance times for personal independence payment are intended for future publication and the Department's analysts are currently considering what information will be included in the release.

Unemployment Benefits

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 113W, on unemployment benefits, what differentiation is made between paid part-time work and registered and declared voluntary work when assessing eligibility for out of work benefits.

Esther McVey: For most benefits, any earnings received are deducted from entitlement, subject to a disregard. This disregard may vary depending on the claimant’s circumstances, the type of occupation and the benefit in payment. Claimants are usually excluded from benefit if they work more than 16 hours per week.
	Voluntary work is defined for social security purposes as work for which the claimant receives no payment other than in respect of expenses reasonably incurred by the volunteer. It must be reasonable for the claimant to be providing services without pay. Voluntary work does not affect entitlement to benefit and any expenses paid are disregarded.
	Whether working part-time or doing voluntary work, the claimant must continue to meet other relevant benefit conditions. For example, in order to be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance they must be available for and actively seeking full-time work.

Work Capability Assessment

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employment and support allowance claimants with (a) rheumatoid arthritis, (b) cystic fibrosis, (c) multiple sclerosis, (d) motor neurone disease and (e) Parkinson's disease have undergone multiple work capability assessments on a single claim; and what proportion each of these comprise of the claimant total.

Mark Harper: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Number and proportion of repeat functional assessments for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants by disease code: October 2008-September 2013 
			  Cystic Fibrosis Spinal Muscular Atrophy Parkinson’s Disease Multiple Sclerosis Other Rheumatoid Arthritis 
			 Number of repeat claims where functional assessment has been completed 500 200 1,500 8,200 7,800 
		
	
	
		
			 Proportion of claimant total; where functional assessment has been completed (percentage) 0.04 0.02 0.13 0.68 0.65 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Proportions are shown to 2 decimal places. 2. Motor neurone disease is shown in the table as 'Spinal muscular atrophy'. 3. The data presented above comes from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions. In October 2008, ESA replaced IB for new claims. Starting with a trial in October 2010, and reaching a full scale national roll-out in April 2011, existing IB claims began to be phased out, with claimants reassessed to see if they qualify for ESA instead. Source: Data in the table above is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the market shift mechanism in the Work Programme.

Esther McVey: In order to drive good performance and thereby support as many people into sustained work as possible, the Department reviewed the market shares of Work programme providers, based on performance delivered during the 12 months ending 31 March 2013, and adjusted shares accordingly from August 2013.
	The Department is reviewing the performance of its Work programme prime providers in the 12 months to the end of March 2014 and will advise the House where prevailing market shares are to change.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Biodiversity

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the reasons for the UK missing the biodiversity targets in 2010; and what assessment she has made of the likelihood of the 2020 biodiversity target being met.

George Eustice: The UK’s Fourth National report to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was submitted in 2009 and can be viewed on the CBD website
	http://www.cbd.int/reports/nr4/default.shtml
	Although no country met the Biodiversity 2010 target in full, it drove significant delivery to address the threats to biodiversity. It did this through protected sites, more sustainable use of farmland, forestry and fisheries, controls on air pollution and improved water quality. However, the report also said that threats from invasive species had increased in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and that climate change impacts on biodiversity were being observed.
	Biodiversity implementation is a devolved matter and for England the Government published Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services in 2011. This sets out the strategic direction for biodiversity policy for the next decade on land and at sea. It builds on the successful work that went before, but also seeks to deliver a real step change by responding to Sir John Lawton’s landmark Making Space for Nature report, and the Convention on Biological Diversity’s international Aichi targets, setting ambitious outcomes to be achieved by 2020.
	Natural England and the Terrestrial Biodiversity Group are undertaking a delivery review of the Strategy’s outcomes and the initial findings indicate that they are achievable if additional effort is demonstrated right across the biodiversity partnership. As Biodiversity 2020 makes clear, Government will play an important role but cannot deliver the strategy alone. Our conservation charities, supported by millions of members of the public and volunteers, already make a vital contribution in protecting biodiversity. Equally, farmers, landowners and local authorities have a central role to play as the stewards of England’s countryside. The Government will continue to work with these partners to ensure their efforts combine with those of public sector organisations to achieve the Biodiversity 2020 outcomes.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the UK's obligations are in respect of badger culling under the Bern Convention.

George Eustice: The Bern Convention requires appropriate and necessary legislative measures to be taken to ensure the protection of badgers, the regulation of their exploitation, eg by imposing close seasons, and the prohibition of certain means of capture and killing. Exceptions can be made for a number of purposes including the protection of livestock, provided the exception is not detrimental to the survival of the population concerned and there is no other satisfactory solution.
	We have considered the provisions of the Bern Convention and our policy complies with the requirements.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she will assess more than six species of wildlife as potential carriers of bovine TB and in relation to tackling that disease.

George Eustice: Mycobacterium bovis (the bovine TB bacterium) has a wide range of hosts and can infect (and cause TB in) virtually all mammalian species, including farmed animals other than cattle, companion animals and wildlife. While M. bovis has been found in a number of different British wild mammals, evidence from previous wildlife surveys, risk assessments and modelling studies indicates that the badger remains the principal and possibly the only significant wildlife maintenance host of the bacterium in the West of England and parts of Wales. Consequently, DEFRA is not currently planning to test further wildlife species for TB (apart from the statutory notifications of deer carcasses with suspect TB lesions), although we will keep under review the potential role of other wildlife, especially deer, in the epidemiology of this disease.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether future badger culls will be independently monitored.

George Eustice: Monitoring will continue to be carried out on both effectiveness and humaneness during the second year of the badger culls. As during the pilot culls last year, trained staff from Animal Health Veterinary Laboratory Agency and Natural England will be carrying out the monitoring. The monitoring will be focused on addressing the issues identified in the Independent Expert Panel’s report on last year’s pilot culls. Both field observations of controlled shooting and post-mortem examinations will continue to be carried out. The results of the monitoring will be made publicly available.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will review her departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if she will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA has rationalised its estate significantly since 2010 realising baseline property cost savings of £51 million per annum up to June 2014.
	DEFRA has a property review and estates rationalisation programme to identify and deliver new opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce property costs.

Common Agricultural Policy

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy on 1 January 2015 in England; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: I have received the Committee’s letter of 16 July 2014 and I intend to engage widely with agricultural, environmental and other interested groups.

Dairy Farming

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 178W, on dairy farming, how many complaints her Department has received on the Dairy Code of Conduct.

George Eustice: I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 178W.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations her Department has received on the checks by a vet on dogs for possible hereditary diseases before being used for breeding; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: We have not received any recent representations on this particular issue. However, I am aware that it is one of the recommendations in the report by the Advisory Council on the Welfare Issues of Dog Breeding.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations her Department has received about the reduction of the number of puppy litters permitted during any 12 month period before a dog breeding licence is required; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: This is a recommendation made by a number of key stakeholders. However, the existing legislation does not set a minimum threshold for numbers of litters born in a 12 month period. Instead, the legislation determines anyone who is in the business of breeding and selling dogs needs to be licensed. The legislation also sets a threshold of five litters born in a 12 month period at which everyone needs a licence, regardless of whether they are considered as being in the business.

Dredging

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will task the Environment Agency to produce a prioritised list of locations where dredging would improve conveyance and reduce flood risk.

Dan Rogerson: The Environment Agency undertakes dredging where the evidence demonstrates that it is a cost-effective way of managing flood risk, taking account of the other options available. DEFRA has asked the Environment Agency to gather evidence on locations on main rivers where dredging and associated vegetation control could cost-effectively reduce flood risk, in discussion with expert stakeholders. The evidence gathered will help to identify the likely benefits, costs and environmental impacts of any such work, and ensure that the available funding is prioritised effectively as part of the Environment Agency’s routine programme of annual maintenance.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within her Department's responsibility.

Dan Rogerson: The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, on 18 October 2012, that by failing to ensure appropriate collection and associated treatment of urban waste water at London and Whitburn, the United Kingdom had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (Case C-301/10). The Department is currently in discussion with the European Commission on how to give effect to the Court's judgment. Since May 2010, no other infraction cases in respect of matters for which my Department is responsible have resulted in adverse judgments against the UK by the European Court.

Fly-grazing

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the amount spent by her Department on tackling fly-grazing.

George Eustice: No such estimate has been made. DEFRA encourages local authorities to use a co-ordinated approach with the police, landowners, farmers and animal welfare charities to identify owners of fly-grazing horses and to use the available legislation to tackle the issue.

Forests

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is in relation to the public forest estate; and what assessment she has made of the implications for that policy of the recommendations of the 2012 Independent Panel on Forestry.

Dan Rogerson: The Government’s policy on the future of the public forest estate is set out in its Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement of January 2013. The Government is committed to maintaining the public forest estate in public ownership and to establishing a new operationally-independent public body to manage the estate for the long-term benefit of people, nature and the economy.
	The Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement was firmly based on the Independent Panel on Forestry’s recommendations, including those in relation to the public forest estate.

Forests

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the annual cost of invasive species to the forestry industry.

Dan Rogerson: A 2010 report entitled “The Economic Cost of Invasive Non-Native Species on Great Britain”, based on research commissioned jointly by the GB Administrations, estimated that the annual cost of invasive non-native species to forestry was £109,396,000. The following table provides a breakdown of this figure.
	The types of impact costs taken into account are provided in the report, which is available on the website of the GB Non-native Species Secretariat at
	http://www.nonnativespecies.org/downloadDocument.cfm?id=487
	
		
			 £ 
			  England Scotland Wales Great Britain 
			 Rabbit 24,352,000 37,899,000 7,766,000 70,017,000 
			 Deer 10,886,000 3,866,000 2,626,000 17,378,000 
			 Edible Dormouse 250,000 0 0 250,000 
			 Grey Squirrel 3,963,000 1,219,000 915,000 6,097,000 
			 Rhododendron 2,874,000 2,874,000 2,873,000 8,621,000 
			 Insects 612,000 2,603,000 517,000 3,732,000 
			 Plant Pathogens 1,195,000 8,000 153,000 1,356,000 
			 Quarantine and research 1,648,000 197,000 100,000 1,945,000 
			 Total 45,780,000 48,666,000 14,950,000 109,396,000

Game: Birds

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department's study to determine whether cage-based breeding can meet the needs of game birds, reference AW1303 has made; what the cost of that study was; and for what reason the findings of that study have not been published.

George Eustice: The study commissioned by DEFRA to provide scientific evidence on whether cage-based breeding for pheasants and partridges can fully meet birds’ needs has been completed and is now being peer-reviewed. The study was commissioned in 2009 and was due to cost approximately £800,000. In 2010 Ministers reduced the cost to £426,000. The study will be published once the peer review is complete, later this year.

Local Nature Partnerships

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding her Department allocated to local nature partnerships in 2013-14 and to which projects.

George Eustice: DEFRA did not allocate any funding to Local Nature Partnerships (LNPs) in 2013-14. In 2011-13 DEFRA, together with Natural England, provided a one-off £1 million capacity building fund for LNPs. Ongoing funding was not part of the envisaged model for LNPs. In 2013-14 the Environment Agency funded a small number of LNPs, the details of which are listed in the following table. The Environment Agency has also contributed to other partnership projects where the LNP is a partner but not the direct recipient of its funding. These are not included in the table.
	
		
			 Direct funding the Environment Agency provided to LNPs in 2013-14 
			 Local Nature Partnership Project Funding (£) Notes 
			 5 LNPs in the North West(Greater Manchester Natural Capital Group; Nature Connected (Liverpool City Region); Cheshire Region; Lancashire; Cumbria) Technical assistance programme to support the LNPs by: helping the LNPs understand and engage with Local Enterprise Partnerships to strengthen the nature conservation aspects of their EU Structural and Investment Fund Strategies; providing guidance on the Duty to co-operate; supporting a LNP engagement event and more general communications activities. 20,000 Neighbouring LNPs (Morecambe Bay, South Pennines, Northern Upland Chain) were engaged with the project but not directly funded. 
			     
			 Humber Supported Humber Management Scheme’s (HMS) work in the Humber European Marine Site to bring the estuary into 'favourable condition' and achieve Habitats Regulations and Water Framework Directive objectives. The funding also covers membership of the Humber Industrial Nature Conservation Association (INCA). 12,278 We provided the funding to the INCA and HMS – groups which have now become the Humber LNP. 
		
	
	
		
			 Hertfordshire Contribution to a Heritage Lottery Fund bid called “Breathing Life into the River Lee Catchment”. The bid identified a number of projects throughout Hertfordshire which fit within the LNP’s remit. 10,000 Funding to the Nature Improvement Area partnership rather than directly to the LNP. 
			     
			 Greater Lincolnshire Memorandum of Agreement for the Lincolnshire Environmental Records Centre and Local Sites. 7,440 — 
			     
			 Hull and East Riding Contribution to provide technical support on ecosystem benefits valuation as part of the Humber Strategy update, to develop a green infrastructure strategy and to foster liaison with economic partners. 4,500 We entered into a Partnership agreement with East Riding of Yorkshire on behalf of the Hull and East Riding LNP. 
			     
			 Natural Cambridgeshire Contribution to Natural Cambridgeshire's “A Call to Action” conference in September 2013. 616.50 — 
			     
			 Devon Contribution to venue hire for the launch event of the Devon LNP. 250 — 
			 Total — 55,085 —

Sewers

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions her Department has had with manufacturers of sanitary and cosmetic products on (a) the provision of clear advice on disposal to avoid blockages in drainage systems and (b) research into improving the biodegradeability of sanitary products in the sewerage system.

Dan Rogerson: We are unaware of any such discussions.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Local Growth Fund

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when (a) due diligence will be completed and (b) funds will be drawn down by winning bidders under the Local Growth Fund.

Greg Clark: Growth Deals were announced with all 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) on 7 July. This followed a highly competitive process in which the Government assessed LEP Strategic Economic Plans against the published assessment criteria including value for money and deliverability. The funding for these deals will be in place for all LEPs by April 2015.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the number of roles advertised through the National Apprenticeship Service which pay below the apprentice national minimum wage.

Nicholas Boles: All vacancies that are advertised on the apprenticeship vacancy website by training providers and employers are quality checked by the Skills Funding Agency to ensure that employers are paying at least the apprenticeship national minimum wage (NMW) of £2.68 per hour. Any vacancies that are found to be paying below this rate are not advertised until they can meet the NMW requirements.

Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of apprentices are working less than 16 hours per week as part of their apprenticeship.

Nicholas Boles: Apprenticeships are a full-time job; therefore it is a condition that apprentices are employed for at least 30 hours per week. In exceptional circumstances, such as where the apprentice has caring responsibilities, a minimum of 16 hours per week may be agreed. Where employment is for less than 30 hours per week, the duration of an apprenticeship must be extended in proportion so that the minimum requirements on duration are still met.

Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of apprentices are not currently receiving (a) on the job and (b) off the job training as part of their apprenticeship.

Nicholas Boles: 77% of apprentices reported receiving formal training sessions, either at a college or training provider or by the employer, away from their usually work activities.
	A further 17% only received informal, on the job training.
	6% of apprentices reported neither of these types of training.
	Source:
	Apprenticeship Evaluation: Learner survey 2013 BIS research report 124:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-survey-learners

Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of apprentices are not (a) contractually entitled to be paid and (b) receiving the apprentice national minimum wage.

Nicholas Boles: All apprentices are legally entitled to be paid for their apprenticeship at (or above) the appropriate national minimum wage rate.
	As shown in Table 1, in 2011 it was found that 20% of UK apprentices were not receiving at least the national minimum wage for apprentices.
	There is no UK estimate from the latest edition of the survey, conducted in 2012, because Scotland did not participate. However, as the vast majority of UK apprentices are based in England, 29% is a reasonable estimate.
	There were some methodological problems with the 2012 survey. The contract to undertake the 2014 Apprenticeship Pay Survey was awarded in May 2014 and has directly addressed these problems. Fieldwork for the survey began in July 2014 and is taking place in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. Results are due for publication in November 2014.
	
		
			 Table 1: Proportion of apprentices who were not receiving the national minimum wage for apprentices according to the 2011 and 2012 Apprenticeship Pay Surveys 
			   On or above apprentice NMW (%) Below apprentice NMW (%) 
			 2012 UK n/a n/a 
			  England 71 29 
			  Scotland n/a n/a 
			  Wales 82 18 
			  NI 59 41 
			     
			 2011 UK 80 20 
			  England 79 20 
			  Scotland 77 22 
			  Wales 84 15 
			  NI 80 18 
			 Notes: 1. Figures may not sum due to rounding 2. Scotland did not participate in the 2012 Apprenticeship Pay Survey 3. It should be noted that concerns have been raised with the accuracy of the 2012 figures. The survey took place in October 2012, very shortly after an increase in the apprentice National Minimum Wage rates. It has been suggested that the reported levels of apprentices receiving less than the minimum wage may be due to an unintentional delay in employers increasing their apprentices’ wages, or apprentices not realising their pay had increased and therefore reporting outdated figures. These potential sources of error have been addressed for the 2014 Apprenticeship Pay Survey which is due for publication in November 2014. Sources: 2012 Apprenticeship Pay Survey: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012 2011 Apprenticeship Pay Survey: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2011

Apprentices

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to (a) start and (b) publish the apprenticeship pay survey.

Nicholas Boles: The contract to undertake the 2014 Apprenticeship Pay Survey was awarded in May 2014, following which work on the survey began immediately.
	The results from the 2014 Apprenticeship Pay Survey are due for publication in November 2014.

Apprentices

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of (a) intermediate, (b) advanced and (c) higher level apprenticeships taken up by people aged (i) under 19, (ii) between 19 and 25 and (iii) 25 and over in each year since 2009-10;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) intermediate, (b) advanced and (c) higher level apprenticeships starts taken up by people aged 25 and under in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13.

Nicholas Boles: Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by level and age group is published in Table 6.1 of a Statistical First Release (SFR):
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: There has been, and continues to be, substantial investment in reviewing BIS Departmental Estates in order to reduce costs. We have made substantial investment which has proven most successful in delivering an Estates Transition Programme.

Business: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many small and medium-sized enterprises have been started in Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years; and what proportion of such businesses are still trading.

Matthew Hancock: There is no single data source that comprehensively measures all business start-ups within the UK. However, as a near proxy BankSearch collates data on the number of new business bank accounts opened in Great Britain. This can be used as an indicative measure of business start-up activity and is the most comprehensive source available to BIS. Data goes as far back as 2008 and does not include information on whether the business is trading or not.
	
		
			  Total estimated number of business start-ups Ashfield constituency 
			 2009 429 
			 2010 514 
			 2011 517 
			 2012 453 
			 2013 456 
			 Source: BankSearch, number of new business bank accounts opened

Business: Cybercrime

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK businesses are protected from cyber-crime.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is playing a key role in the delivery of the National Cyber Security Strategy, a five-year programme to transform the UK’s approach to cyber security, backed up with £860 million of investment.
	BIS leads on the “making it safer to do business in cyber space” objective and has delivered a range of measures to help protect UK business from cyber crime, including:
	publishing a range of good practice cyber security guidance aimed at large and small businesses;
	delivering the ‘Cyber Streetwise’ campaign with the Home Office to help businesses and consumers protect themselves against online crime;
	launching the industry approved “Cyber Essentials” scheme which enables businesses to implement a good basic level of cyber hygiene against cyber threats;
	making over £1 million of cyber security innovation vouchers available to UK SMEs to help them improve their cyber security, and
	Support for industry initiatives such as Nominet’s ‘Cyber Assist’ pilot service for small and medium-sized enterprises experiencing cyber attacks.
	BIS also works with other Government Departments and the security and intelligence agencies to deliver further measures to help protect UK business from cyber crime, including:
	Creating a national Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT UK, which works closely with industry, Government and academia to enhance UK cyber resilience. It provides support to Critical National Infrastructure companies to handle cyber security incidents.
	Setting up the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CISP), part of CERT UK, which enables companies to share information and intelligence on cyber security threats;
	The creation of a Government approved list of Cyber Incident ‘Clean Up’ companies which can help companies respond effectively to incidents and get them up and running as soon as possible.

Business: Email

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the financial advantages enjoyed by larger companies in preventing their marketing and promotional emails from being blocked by servers.

Edward Vaizey: The Department has not made an assessment regarding this issue.
	If there is evidence that treating emails in this manner is driving anti-competitive behaviour by companies, this should be referred to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s independent competition authority, for consideration.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to increase the number of replies within his Department's working day standard; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The handling of correspondence is given the highest priority by the Department and we aim to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days. For the calendar year ending 31 December 2013, the latest period for which figures are available, 93% of responses to MPs and Peers were answered within our target of 15 working days. This represents an increase of 9% over the previous year’s performance.
	Guidance on handling correspondence from Members of Parliament, Peers, MEPs and Members of devolved Administrations will be updated in due course.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61196/guide-handling-gov-correspondence.pdf

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: Every effort is made to ensure that departmental correspondence is dealt with in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
	Letters are sent on stationery printed in-house. If sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members at the House of Commons or House of Lords then no postage is incurred as mail is delivered twice a day from the Department, 1 Victoria Street on our van service.
	During recess, letters are sent via first class mail—the cost of stationery and postage during the most recent summer recess period is estimated at around £200. Figures for earlier time periods are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 128W, on disabled students' allowances, 
	(1)  whether his Department will provide supplemental funding to higher education institutions to support students likely to require extra reasonable adjustments as a result of changes to disabled students allowance;
	(2)  how much money his Department will save as a result of the proposed changes to the disabled students' allowance.

Greg Clark: The Government is consulting stakeholders about the proposed changes. These consultations will help inform the Equality Analysis, which will include an estimate of the savings that might be expected from the proposals, once agreed.

Exports

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many firms have taken part in the Passport to Export scheme in each year of its operation.

Matthew Hancock: Passport to Export has been running for over 10 years and in most years around 1,200 companies have been signed to the scheme. That number was increased in 2013/14. Since 2010 for which data are readily available, the number of companies signed to the scheme is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of companies 
			 2010/11 1,114 
			 2011/12 1,215 
			 2012/13 1,336 
			 2013/14 2,686 
			 2014/15 1956 
			 1 April to July

Exports

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much match funding has been allocated to firms under the Passport to Export Scheme; and what proportion of these funds have been withdrawn.

Matthew Hancock: Since 2010 for which data are readily available, the level of expenditure on match funding has been as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2010/11 1.1 million 
			 2011/12 907,000 
			 2012/13 774,000 
			 2013/14 2.1 million 
			 2014/15 11.9 million 
			 1 April to July. 
		
	
	No companies with an offer of matched funding have had that offer of funding withdrawn.

Exports

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many firms have been allocated funds which have subsequently been withdrawn with the removal of match funding under the Passport to Export scheme.

Matthew Hancock: No companies offered matched funding under UK Trade & Investment’s Passport to Export Scheme have had that offer of funding removed.

Exports

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many firms are participating in the Passport to Export scheme.

Matthew Hancock: I refer the hon. Member to parliamentary question 206276 that I have answered today. This indicates the numbers of companies signed to the Passport to Export scheme in recent years. Companies are signed up to the scheme over the course of each financial year and stay on the programme for a period of up to 12 months.

Exports

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many firms (a) applied and (b) were approved to take part in the Passport to Export scheme in each month of its operation.

Matthew Hancock: Monthly data for companies signing up to the Passport scheme is not available for the full length of time Passport has been running. However, monthly data is available since April 2012, and this is set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Passport to Export scheme sign-ups 
			  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 April 150 325 245 
			 May 173 262 255 
			 June 136 214 248 
			 July 135 240 208 
			 August 101 192 — 
			 September 164 233 — 
			 October 132 232 — 
			 November 140 208 — 
			 December 106 154 — 
			 January 129 269 — 
			 February 191 319 — 
			 March 144 38 — 
			 Total 1701 2686 956 
		
	
	No data is retained on the numbers of companies which applied but were not approved to take part in the Passport to Export scheme.

Exports: Middle East

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will suspend all standard individual export licence and open individual export licences to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories until at least such time as a ceasefire in the present conflict in that region has been established.

Matthew Hancock: A ceasefire was announced on 26 August 2014 and remains in force. The Government continues to monitor the situation closely.

Graduates

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to increase opportunities for university leavers and to ensure that university leavers in all regions and constituent parts of the UK benefit from his efforts.

Greg Clark: The Government is rebuilding, rebalancing and growing the economy to ensure that all university leavers in all parts of the country are given the opportunity to achieve their potential.
	The economic plan is working, with over two million more private sector jobs and 400,000 more businesses.
	To enable students to take advantage of these opportunities we are increasing the information available to them through the Key Information Set. This provides comparable information on over 37,000 undergraduate courses at universities and colleges across the country.
	Our Graduate Talent Pool programme has played a valuable role in stimulating the UK graduate internship market, helping graduates to gain relevant work experience and improving their employment prospects.
	Latest data, from the Destinations of Leavers of Higher Education survey, show that these policies are working. 88% of full-time first degree leavers who graduated from UK universities in 2012/13 were in employment or further study 6 months after graduation.

New Businesses: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of the monies made available for the Government's Start-Up Loans scheme has been allocated to businesses in Northern Ireland since the scheme began.

Matthew Hancock: The funding government has allocated to the Start-Up Loan scheme is not segregated by region therefore when a Start-Up Loan delivery partner approves a Start-Up Loan for a business in Northern Ireland the funds are derived from the overall Start-Up Loan budget. The scheme was extended to Northern Ireland June 13 and there have been 126 loans with a value of £591,610.

New Businesses: Westmorland

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many new businesses (a) have been registered in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency since 2010 and (b) were registered between 2005 and 2010.

Matthew Hancock: There is no single data source that comprehensively measures all business start-ups within the UK. However, as a near proxy BankSearch collates data on the number of new business bank accounts opened in Great Britain. This can be used as an indicative measure of business start-up activity and is the most comprehensive source available to BIS. Data goes as far back as 2008.
	Between the start of 2010 and May 2014 there were an estimated 2,610 start-ups in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency. Between the start of 2008 and the end of 2009 there were an estimated 1,265 start-ups in this constituency.

Pay: Ethnic Groups

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to increase the number of workers from ethnic minority backgrounds who are paid the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Jo Swinson: The Government encourages employers to pay the Living Wage when it is affordable and not at the expense of jobs. However our primary policy for supporting the low paid is the National Minimum Wage (NMW) which is carefully set by the independent Low Pay Commission at a level that maximises their wages without damaging employment by setting it too high.
	The NWW has benefitted all low paid workers across the UK, not just those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Since its introduction in 1999 it has increased faster than average earnings and inflation without an adverse impact on employment.
	In addition to the NMW we are increasing the personal allowance for income tax, allowing workers to take home more of what they earn. From April 2015 changes to income tax will provide the average worker with an additional £800 to their pay packet and by then will have taken 3.2 million people out of tax altogether.

Property: Greater London

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of properties in each London borough sold in each year since 2010 were sold to foreign buyers.

Matthew Hancock: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Royal Mail

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what agreement was sought from priority investors on the long-term holding of shares in Royal Mail.

Matthew Hancock: No agreement was sought from the priority investors ahead of the sale of shares in Royal Mail on the long term holding of shares.
	Any mechanism which requires a buyer to give up the rights normally associated with shares, such as a restriction on the right to sell those shares for a period of time, would be reflected in the price investors would be prepared to pay for those shares.

Royal Mail

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions took place between (a) Ministers in his Department, (b) officials, (c) the Financial Adviser to HM Government and (d) the banking syndicate working on the privatisation of Royal Mail with priority investors on the length of time shares in the privatised business would continue to be held.

Matthew Hancock: We did not seek assurances from priority investors on the length of time that they would hold the Royal Mail shares that they bought.
	Our intention was to ensure that RM started out with a core of long-term, stable investors who understood the business, along with some hedge fund participation to ensure liquidity in the aftermarket. We achieved that.
	We did not expect the shareholder register to remain static. Some investors have sold their shares, presumably because the share price reached their target price. Others have bought shares. There is still a wide range of views on the value of this company.

Royal Mail

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Edinburgh South of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 167W, on Royal Mail, what correspondence his Department has had with the syndicate of banks involved in the initial public offering on (a) the payment of the discretionary fee and (b) the length of the stabilisation period set out in the engagement letter.

Matthew Hancock: The Department has not had any correspondence with the syndicate of banks about the payment of the discretionary fee and the length of the stabilisation period.

Royal Mail

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  on what date the decision was taken to set the limit the public offering of Royal Mail shares to those applying for shares of a value of less than £10,000;
	(2)  on what date banks were informed of the decision to limit Royal Mail shares to people applying for shares of a value less than £10,000.

Matthew Hancock: The decision to limit the allocation of shares under the Royal Mail Retail Offer to those applying for less than £10,000 was taken by Ministers on 9 October 2013.
	The banks involved in the sale of Royal Mail shares were informed on the same day as the decision was made.

Royal Mail

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to his Department's Major Projects Portfolio September 2013, published on 23 May 2014, if he will place in the Library the lessons learned document in respect of the Royal Mail sale of shares.

Matthew Hancock: The lessons learned document was prepared for internal use by the Department.
	The Department does not intend to give this document wider circulation as producing such documents is important part of the decision making process and to release it would have an inhibiting effect on future Government decision making processes (including the identification of ways to improve those processes).

Students: Disadvantaged

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what allowance his Department makes for the proportion of mature, disadvantaged and harder to reach students any college has on its student rolls when assessing the adequacy of the college's student attendance rates.

Nicholas Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has no role in assessing the adequacy of student attendance rates in further education (FE) colleges.
	The Government’s school and college inspection body, Ofsted, in their judgment on a college’s outcome from learners may comment on low attendance and punctuality as an area for improvement and will look at how a college’s achievement gaps are narrowing between different groups of learners.
	Where Ofsted rate a college inadequate, BIS will take intervention action.

Students: Loans

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when his Department plans next to update the RAB charge on student loans.

Greg Clark: The next update of the RAB charge will happen when the Student Loans Company provides the Department with updated loans data. This typically takes place in early autumn each year.

Students: Loans

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 11 December 2013, Official Report, column 247W, on students: loans, how many complaints (a) he and (b) the Office of Fair Trading has received about changes to the conditions of student loans sold to Erudio Student Loans Limited for loan holders (i) nationally and (ii) in Greater Manchester; what steps he has taken to remind Erudio of its responsibility to uphold the original conditions of the loan; what guidance he has issued to purchasers of the student loan book on how student loans impact credit ratings; and if he will place in the Library a copy of that guidance.

Greg Clark: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had received complaints about Erudio Student Loans Limited from 38 loan holders (or their elected representatives) as at 31 July 2014:
	12 of these did not specify their location.
	of the remaining 26, 15 were from (or about) loan holders in England, of which one was in Greater Manchester.
	The Office of Fair Trading was closed on 1 April 2014 and its responsibilities in relation to consumer credit passed to the Financial Conduct Authority. The Financial Conduct Authority does not investigate individual complaints. The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free, independent service for settling disputes between financial services firms and their customers, which can deal with complaints about a wide range of financial matters.
	Erudio has been notified of five complaints received by the Financial Ombudsman Service as at 31 July 2014. None of these was from loan holders in Greater Manchester.
	Mortgage style student loans are regulated loans under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended). Terms and conditions are specified in the Education (Student Loans) Regulations 1998 and in borrowers’ loan credit agreements. Erudio Student Loans Limited is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for accounts formed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended) and must act in compliance with the terms and conditions of the loans, relevant regulatory requirements, industry guidance and all applicable laws.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not issued guidance to Erudio Student Loans Limited in relation to how mortgage style student loans impact on borrowers’ credit scores, as the Department has no involvement in the credit scoring process.
	The leaflet ‘Credit explained’ published by the Information Commissioner’s Office explains this in more detail and is available at:
	http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Practical_application/credit-explained-dp-guidance.pdf

UK Export Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals to extend the powers of UK Export Finance on (a) the commitment on the Coalition Agreement for UK Trade and Investment and the Export Credits Guarantee Department to become champions for British companies that develop and export innovative green technologies around the world and (b) human rights; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: holding answer 22 July 2014
	The proposals to extend the powers of UK Export Finance (UKEF) should be helpful to exporters operating in all sectors.

Video Games: Cybercrime

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has taken steps to protect from cyber-crime attacks videogame developers and publishers who have products that are specifically based online.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 16 July 2014
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is playing a key role in the Government’s five-year, £860 million National Cyber Security Programme and has delivered a range of measures to help protect all UK businesses from cyber crime attacks. The Government has regular discussions with the videogames industry, for example through the work of the Creative Industries Council. Companies can draw upon various forms of Government help and support, such as the range of good practice guidance and the £5,000 cyber security innovation vouchers aimed at small businesses and start-ups. BIS continues to work with Government and industry partners to raise awareness of cyber threats and encourage businesses to take action to protect themselves.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Ascension Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that West Nile virus is not introduced from the US to Ascension Island.

James Duddridge: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the then Parliamentary under Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds) on 21 July 2014, Official Report, column 870W.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if his Department will place in the Library a copy of the commercial tuna-fishing licences sold by the British Indian Ocean Territory Government in 2010.

James Duddridge: Copies of the commercial tuna-fishing licenses from 2010 were deposited in the Library of the House on 21 July 2014.

British Nationals Abroad: Terrorism

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his (a) Egyptian, (b) Syrian and (c) Iraqi counterparts on preventing UK nationals becoming involved in terrorist groups.

Tobias Ellwood: We remain concerned about the significant number of UK nationals becoming involved in terrorist groups. Since the conflict in Syria began, over 500 individuals have travelled to fight from the UK. Our priority is to dissuade people from travelling to areas of conflict in the first place, and to identify and dissuade individuals at risk of radicalisation.
	We are working closely with allies, partners in the region and through the UN and EU on counter-terrorism priorities. We have had extensive discussions with the opposition Syrian National Coalition on the threat of extremism, including the role of UK nationals. We welcome their rejection of terrorism and their consistent condemnation of terrorist acts, as well as their commitment to upholding international human rights and humanitarian law. We are supporting the moderate opposition in Syria who are leading the fight against both the regime and wider extremism, including ISIL.
	The Prime Minister called the Iraq Prime Minister PM Designate, Dr Haidar al-Abadi, and President Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government on 13 August to show UK support for Dr al-Abadi’s efforts to form a new government and encourage cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Tobias Ellwood and Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening visited Baghdad and Erbil on 26-27 August. In Baghdad they met President Fuad Masoum, Prime Minister-designate al-Abadi and Speaker Salman al-Jibouri, all of whom were clear that early progress on the formation of a new government is critical to progress in tackling the challenge Iraq faces from ISIL, and all of whom welcomed UK support.
	The Foreign Secretary discussed the issue of foreign fighters with the Egyptian Foreign Minister in Cairo on 24 July, and Mr Ellwood discussed the regional security situation, including Iraq and Syria, with the Secretary General of the Arab League and the Egyptian Assistant Minister for Europe in Cairo on 25 August.

Burma

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his counterpart in Burma on the recent violence against Muslims in Mandalay and the growth of Buddhist extremism in that country.

Hugo Swire: On 3 July, I expressed my concern about the violence which took place in Mandalay, and called for restraint. The British embassy in Rangoon has discussed the incident with the Government of Burma and we continue to monitor the situation. More broadly, we remain deeply concerned by the violence directed against Muslim and other minority groups in Burma and have been consistently clear that we look to the Government to ensure the security of all communities. Through the EU the UK is supporting a project to develop the capacity of the Burmese police force, including in Mandalay, so they are better trained to respond to such incidents in line with international standards. We are also providing funding to support organisations that run interfaith dialogue, which will be important in bringing communities together.

Central African Republic

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support the Government is giving to the European Union Force's presence in the Central African Republic.

James Duddridge: We remain greatly concerned by the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). The UK has supported the planning and logistics for the European Union Force (EUFOR) in CAR, including by providing a military officer to the Operation Headquarters. We provided practical support to speed up the operation’s deployment by flying equipment and personnel to CAR. The UK also supports the ongoing EUFOR Operation by paying a proportion (14.82%) of the operation’s estimated €31.2 million common costs. Further to our support to the EUFOR mission we have provided £2 million for the African-led International Support Mission to CAR (MISCA), and provided logistical support to the French (Sangaris) mission. The Department for International Development have also provided £23 million in humanitarian aid since mid-2013.

Central African Republic

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken to ensure that the UN-led MINUSCA peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic is well-resourced and fully deployed with the UN authorised number of troops by September 2014.

James Duddridge: We remain deeply concerned about the situation in the Central African Republic and have been working closely with the United Nations and other partners to ensure MINUSCA deploys with the expertise and resources it needs to carry out its mandate (UNSCR2149, April 2014). We are supporting close consultation with the African Union, to ensure a smooth transition from the African led International Support Mission to CAR (MISCA) to MINUSCA on 15 September, and we will continue to support UN efforts to bring MINUSCA to full strength as soon as possible.

Children: Detainees

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the implementation of each of the recommendations in the report, Children in Military Custody, published in June 2012.

Tobias Ellwood: The UK has made repeated representations to Israel on their treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including child detainees. Since the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded independent report on Children in Military Custody, there has been some limited progress. This includes a pilot to use summons instead of night-time arrests, and steps to reduce the amount of time a child can be detained before seeing a judge. My predecessor wrote to the Israeli Attorney-General on 31 March 2014 to welcome the steps taken to date and to call for further measures, including the mandatory use of audio-visual recording of interrogations, investigation into continued reports of single hand ties being used, and an end to solitary confinement for children. The British Government has been working with the delegation who compiled the Children in Military Custody report to make a return visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the near future.

Colombia

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answers to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South of 30 June 2014, Official Report, column 453W, on Colombia, for what reasons the Minister of State did not meet representatives of trades unions during his visit to Bogota; and if he will instruct the British Embassy in Bogota to monitor (a) the progress made by the Colombian authorities in bringing the perpetrators of assassinations of representatives of trades unions and (b) the efficacy of the Colombian Republic's commitment to ending the culture of impunity.

Hugo Swire: I met human rights groups before and during my visit to Colombia last month, and one of these groups was specifically focused on trade unions.
	The British embassy does a lot of excellent work on human rights with Colombian authorities, not least on specific cases related to trades unions and on the issue of impunity, and it will continue to do so. The embassy has, for example, raised the murders of FENSUAGRO and Patriotic March members with the Vice-President's office. Following this, on 26 June, the Vice-President's Office stated that they were following up these cases with the Ministry of Defence, the Army, the Attorney-General's Office, the Inspector-General's Office and the National Protection Unit. The Vice President's Office is also in direct communication with FENSUAGRO.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in how many meetings in the last year between financial sector professionals and Ministers or senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at Gov.uk.
	Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in how many meetings in the last year between agricultural sector professionals and Ministers or senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at Gov.uk.
	Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in how many meetings in the last year between pharmaceutical sector professionals and Ministers or senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at Gov.uk.
	Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in how many meetings in the last year between chemical sector professionals and Ministers or senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at Gov.uk.
	Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  in how many meetings in the last year between manufacturing sector professionals and Ministers or Senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed;
	(2)  in how many meetings in the last year between insurance sector professionals and Ministers or senior officials of his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and permanent secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at gov.uk.
	Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in how many meetings in the last year between energy sector professionals and Ministers or Senior officials in his Department the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership has been discussed.

Hugo Swire: Details of meetings held by Ministers and permanent secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found at gov.uk. Information requested in respect of other officials' meetings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

David Lidington: Since May 2010 the UK has lost no infraction proceedings in which the Foreign and Commonwealth office was the lead Department.

Iran

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the treatment of the Bahá’í community in Iran.

Tobias Ellwood: It was reported in May 2014 that a Bahai’i cemetery in Shiraz, where over 950 Baha’is are buried, was destroyed – there have been a number of similar such incidents in recent years. As well as the threat of imprisonment, Baha’is continue to face ongoing harassment and discrimination.
	The UK works closely with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, who’s most recent report of March 2014 addressed the plight of Baha’is and other religious minorities in the country. The UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires to Iran discussed freedom of religion and other Human Rights issues with the Iranian authorities during his visit to Iran in March 2014. My hon. Friend the then Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Hugh Robertson), issued a public statement on 14 May 2014 calling for Iran to abide by its international commitments to ensure all Iranians are free to practice their religion without fear of persecution.

Iraq

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps to ensure that British Embassy staff in Iraq make contact with Danny Fitzsimon, who is held prisoner in that country.

Tobias Ellwood: Embassy staff have visited Mr Fitzsimons and continue to attempt to do so despite the security situation in the area of Iraq where Mr Fitzsimons is detained. When they have been unable to visit, staff have had contact by phone or in writing. We will continue to provide consular support, taking into account the local conditions. The British Government remains in regular discussions with the Iraqi Authorities about Mr Fitzsimons' case.

Kazakhstan

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Government of Kazakstan on human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.

Tobias Ellwood: The Prime Minister visited Kazakhstan last year and had a wide-ranging discussion on human rights with President Nazarbayev. The former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised human rights concerns with the Kazakhstani Foreign Minister during the latter’s visit to London in November last year. My right hon. noble Friend the former Senior Minister of State Baroness Warsi visited Kazakhstan in April and discussed a number of human rights issues with Kazakhstani interlocutors, building on previous visits and conversations.
	We continue to raise our concerns about human rights, freedoms of expression, assembly and religion directly with the Government of Kazakhstan, and in relevant international fora, at every appropriate opportunity.

Kazakhstan

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions Ministers in his Department have had with the Government of Kazakstan on violation of fundamental labour rights and exploitation of child labour.

Tobias Ellwood: We were deeply concerned by the labour clashes in western Kazakhstan in December 2011.
	In November 2013 in a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), encouraged Kazakhstan to sign up to the Voluntary Principles on Business and Human Rights, which aim to reduce the risk of human rights abuses connected to the extractives industry.
	We are funding a project to promote the implementation of the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework and guiding principles on business and human rights in Kazakhstan.
	Finally, we welcome and support Kazakhstan’s efforts to implement its 2012 to 2014 Joint Action Plan and Joint Work Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and meet its international obligations in this field.

Kenya

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Kenyan counterpart on the safety of UK tourists to that country.

James Duddridge: The former Minister for Africa, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds), had regular discussions on security in Kenya with the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Amina Mohamed, and wrote to Ms Mohamed on the subject in May. The British high commissioner to Kenya discussed the safety of British nationals with Ms Mohamed, when he informed her of the latest change to FCO travel advice for Kenya in July 2014. I will be continuing this dialogue.

Macedonia

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government is taking to improve trade relations with the Republic of Macedonia.

David Lidington: We provide policy advice and political support for UK businesses operating, or seeking to operate, in Macedonia, and enjoy good co-operation with the Macedonian Government on this front. For example, we run periodic ‘British Business Forums' that connect businesses directly with Macedonian institutions, resulting in closer co-operation and opportunities for companies to raise concerns directly with the Macedonian Government.
	The embassy has also conducted targeted interventions in support of British business. For example we have tackled corruption/bureaucracy that was blocking a major British company from accessing the market, and have successfully lobbied against protectionist legislation that prevented another British company from repatriating its revenue.

Middle East

Simon Danczuk: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to de-escalate the situation in Gaza.

Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has spoken to Israeli and Palestinian counterparts as well as key international partners about the present crisis in Gaza on numerous occasions in recent weeks, urging an end to violence, a durable ceasefire and successful negotiations in Cairo which lead to a sustainable solution to the current crisis, tackling its underlying causes. He has visited Ramallah, Jerusalem and Cairo for talks and attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 15 August 2014. He most recently spoke to the Egyptian Foreign Minister about the ceasefire talks on 20 August 2014.

Middle East

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of recent Israeli actions in Gaza and that country's compliance with international law and its obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

Tobias Ellwood: The Prime Minister has been clear that Israel has a right to self-defence but that everything must be done to minimise civilian casualties.
	An assessment of whether Israeli actions in Gaza comply with international law and its obligations under the Geneva Conventions requires an investigation on the ground. To that end the United Nations Human Rights Council has set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate purported violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip since the conflict began on 13 June 2014. The UK supports this inquiry, which must be balanced and independent.

Middle East

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the legality under international law and the Geneva Conventions of Israel's current actions in Gaza.

Tobias Ellwood: We have been clear that Israel has a right to defend itself. The UN Human Rights Council has set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate purported violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began there on 13 June. We are calling on both sides to co-operate with the Commission of Inquiry, which must itself be independent and balanced in its approach.

Middle East

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to resolve the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has spoken to Israeli and Palestinian counterparts as well as key international partners about the present crisis in Gaza on numerous occasions in recent weeks, urging an end to violence, a durable ceasefire and successful negotiations in Cairo which lead to a sustainable solution to the current crisis, tackling its underlying causes. The Foreign Secretary also visited Ramallah, Jerusalem and Cairo for talks. He most recently spoke to the Egyptian Foreign Minister about the ceasefire talks on 20 August.
	The UK has provided £19.1 million in UK aid in response to this crisis.

Middle East

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps he has taken to publicise internationally the UK's position on the conflict in Gaza.

Tobias Ellwood: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has had numerous bilateral contacts with the Israelis, Palestinians, US and other international partners on the Gaza conflict in recent weeks, including during visits to Egypt, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He has also attended multilateral events such as the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 15 August. He has given press interviews and issued many statements on developments. On each occasion he has made the UK's position on the Gaza conflict clear.

Middle East

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps he has taken to protect residents of Gaza and the West Bank.

Tobias Ellwood: The UK has provided £19.1 million in UK aid in response to this crisis. On 8 August DIFD announced they would be providing an additional £2 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee and on 4 August the Secretary of State for International Development announced £2 million in new funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency’s Flash Appeal. This will help the UN provide a package of essential goods to the thousands of families sheltering in schools. In total, we have now pledged £6 million to UNRWA’s appeal.
	Furthermore, on 1 August DFID activated the Rapid Response Facility for Gaza. This means pre-approved partners with a proven ability to operate in Gaza will now have access to a total of £3 million in new funding to provide rapid and direct emergency humanitarian assistance. We are providing £3 million to the World Food Programme to provide food vouchers. This boost will provide emergency food vouchers for more than 300,000 people for one month, and we are also providing £2 million in medical aid. Finally, we have brought forward £3 million in funding to the International Committee of the Red Cross to help them repair water infrastructure, deliver emergency medical services and protect the civilian population.
	But we are clear that a political solution is required to the current crisis in Gaza if we are to avoid this suffering happening again. All UK effort is focused to that end.

Nigeria

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further assistance is being offered to the Nigerian authorities following the latest reported Boko Haram massacre in Damboa township.

James Duddridge: I condemn all acts of terrorism in Nigeria. The attack on Damboa further demonstrates the need for the United Kingdom and others to support Nigeria as it confronts Boko Haram and other terrorist groups. On 12 June 2014 the Government announced a substantial new package of UK military, intelligence and development support to Nigeria. This package includes training and advice to Nigerian units deployed against Boko Haram; support to Nigeria in bringing increased development and prosperity to its north east; and a commitment to draw 1 million more children into education in Northern Nigeria by 2020.

Palestinians

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received on the right to self-determination of Palestinian people; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: We receive regular representations on the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, including from governments, NGOs, and members of the public. The UK Government’s long-standing position is that we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states, and a just, fair and agreed settlement for refugees. The UK will continue to do all it can to support and advance efforts to resolve the conflict.

Russia

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the occasions on which Russian state servants or military personnel are believed to have committed offences against national security in the UK, or to have infringed UK airspace, territorial waters, land or cyberspace without the legal right to do so, or otherwise to have challenged or threatened UK sovereign interests in the last five years; on what date each such event occurred; what the nature of each such event was; and if he will make a statement.

Tobias Ellwood: It is the long standing policy of successive Governments not to comment on intelligence matters including matters related to national security.

Russia

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on imposing sanctions against Russia in relation to that country's response to the crash of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine.

David Lidington: The tragic loss of life on Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has brought into sharp focus the consequences of Russia's destabilisation of eastern Ukraine. EU sanctions are in direct response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, with the option of increasingly severe restrictive measures if Russia does not desist from its policies to destabilise Ukraine and support separatists in the east. By imposing sanctions, we have demonstrated our willingness to use economic levers to influence Russia's behaviour. We have no wish to isolate Russia, nor to see the Russian people suffer as a result of the unlawful actions of their leaders. The international community cannot stand by, however, and ignore attacks upon Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

St Helena

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many St Helenians are in fuel poverty.

James Duddridge: The St Helena Government is reviewing how it might appropriately analyse and report fuel poverty statistics on the island, but currently it does not record this information. The FCO and DFID do not record this information.
	DFID assists by contributing to efforts to alleviate the effect of the operating loss of the utilities company and to ensure that user tariffs are maintained.

St Helena

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many St Helenians have emigrated since November 2011.

James Duddridge: St Helena Government's (SHG) Statistics Office has confirmed 148 St Helenians have emigrated since November 2011.

St Helena

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of residents of St Helena in fuel poverty.

James Duddridge: The St Helena Government is reviewing how it might appropriately analyse and report fuel poverty statistics on the island, but currently it does not record this information. The FCO and DFID do not record this information.
	DFID assists by contributing to efforts to alleviate the effect of the operating loss of the utilities company and to ensure that user tariffs are maintained.

Terrorism

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will share information with other European countries to prevent people becoming involved in terrorist groups in Syria, Egypt and Iraq.

Tobias Ellwood: In line with the UK's wider Objective on increased collaboration to counter the global threat from terrorism, the Government is already working closely with allies, partners in the region and through the UN and EU on counter-terrorism priorities. That includes working closely with European partners to tackle the shared threat from foreign fighters travelling to Syria and the region. The UK is regularly exchanging information with European partners at an operational and policy level to ensure co-ordination of efforts in tackling the threat.

Ukraine

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Russian counterpart on the crash of flight MH17 in Ukraine.

David Lidington: The Prime Minister spoke to President Putin on 20 July regarding flight MH17. He made clear that the shooting down of MH17 was totally unacceptable and that our priority was to get experts to the crash site so they could recover and repatriate the victims and collect any evidence necessary for the investigation.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), remains in regular contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Ukraine

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Ukrainian government on assisting Ukrainian nationals to obtain external passports.

David Lidington: This is not an issue which we have raised with the Ukrainian Government. It would be inappropriate for Her Majesty's Government to lobby over who should be eligible for Ukrainian national passports.

Wines

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what value of wine from the Government's wine cellar was consumed by each Government Department in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) the first quarter of 2014-15.

James Duddridge: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made by my hon. Friend the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mark Simmonds), on 17 July 2014, Official Report, columns 86-87WS, the Annual Statement on the Government Hospitality Wine Cellar, covering consumption, stock purchases and costs. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not record the values of wines consumed on a Department by Department basis for official Government events, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs. The overall value of wines consumed since 2011 was as follows:
	2011-12: £55,679
	2012-13: £65,623
	2013-14: £55,805.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

British Film Institute

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects that the Triennial Review of the British Film Institute will be published.

Edward Vaizey: The BFI Triennial Review Report is being prepared for publication and will be published shortly. The House will be informed of the publication through a Written Ministerial Statement.

Cleaning Services

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether his Department pays the London living wage to cleaners working in its London office.

Helen Grant: DCMS does not have any direct employees who are paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation as a living wage. DCMS is not responsible for setting pay levels for contracted workers. This is a matter for the organisations who employ them. However, we actively encourage employers to ensure that the living wage is paid and we would monitor these when contracts are being negotiated.

Copyright: Internet

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his policy is on the development by ISPs and copyright owners of Creative Content UK, a programme of education about legal entertainment services, and alerts to subscribers found to have been uploading content illegally online; and what effects he expects the development to have on the implementation of the Digital Economy Act 2010.

Edward Vaizey: The Government warmly welcomed the initiative by copyright owners and ISPs of setting up Creative Content UK, and has pledged £3.5 million over three years to support the educational campaign that will complement the process. An industry-led solution has always been our preferred approach, and so Government will not progress the relevant provisions within the Digital Economy Act 2010 at this time. However, they will remain available if a legislative solution becomes necessary.

Coventry City Football Club

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the Football League on Coventry City Football Club returning to play in Coventry.

Helen Grant: I meet regularly with the Football League to discuss a range of issues. I have met with the Members for Coventry North East, Coventry South and Kenilworth & Southam to learn more about the situation faced by Coventry FC, and have raised their specific concerns with the Football League in writing.

Football: Insolvency

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to Lord Justice Hickinbottom's judgement in Sisu v. Coventry City Council, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reform the Football Creditors' Rule.

Helen Grant: The football authorities have made significant moves over recent years to get clubs on a stronger financial footing, principally through the introduction of financial fair play rules, minimising the need for football to rely on the Football Creditors Rule in cases of club insolvencies. The Government keeps the situation under review.

Football: Insolvency

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the implications of Lord Justice Hickinbottom's judgement in Sisu v. Coventry City Council and others for football governance in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: Following the judgment, I would urge all parties to focus on the most important issue of getting Coventry City back to playing it's home matches in Coventry within the timescale set out in the Club's membership agreement.

Gaming Machines

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the research being conducted by Lincoln University on fixed odds betting terminals will assess the potentially addictive nature of those machines.

Edward Vaizey: The Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) has commissioned a wide-ranging research programme into category B2 gaming machines which is due to be published in the autumn. This research will seek to understand what measures might limit harmful play without impacting on those who do not exhibit harmful behaviours and the RGT has commissioned the University of Lincoln to determine whether gambling at higher stakes is a risk factor for gambling-related harm and to explore the impact of higher stakes and prizes on players.

Gaming Machines

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the research being conducted by Lincoln University on fixed odds betting terminals will help determine an appropriate stake level for those machines.

Edward Vaizey: The Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) has commissioned a wide-ranging research programme into category B2 gaming machines which is due to be published in the autumn. This research will seek to understand what measures might limit harmful play without impacting on those who do not exhibit harmful behaviours and the RGT has commissioned the University of Lincoln to determine whether gambling at higher stakes is a risk factor for gambling-related harm and to explore the impact of higher stakes and prizes on players.

Mobile Phones: Radio Frequencies

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  if he will request Ofcom to undertake an independent analysis of (a) the need of mobile network operators to be granted access to additional radio spectrum and (b) the quantity of spectrum currently allocated to mobile network operators of which they are not making use to provide mobile connectivity for consumers; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the validity of mobile network operators' requirement for access to an increased quantity of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of the efficiency with which mobile companies make use of the radio spectrum to which they currently have access; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: The 4G auction in 2013 has increased the amount of spectrum available to the mobile network operators (MNOs) for delivering next generation mobile services. The 4G rollout is under way and will ensure the UK continues to have some of the best mobile services in Europe.
	The Department has not made any direct assessment of mobile network operators’ (MNOs) spectrum requirements or the technical characteristics of their network deployments. Ofcom published their Mobile Data Strategy consultation on 21 November 2013, which examines consumer demand for mobile data services and how this could be met, including MNOs’ spectrum requirements. The consultation document and responses can be found on Ofcom’s website:
	http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/mobile-data-strategy/
	Ofcom has since published a further statement on their Mobile Data Strategy:
	http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/mobile-data-strategy/statement/
	The Department does not directly monitor the operations of the MNOs or the technical characteristics of their network deployments. Ofcom does however undertake certain monitoring functions including monitoring of coverage, service quality and ensuring MNOs comply with any obligations included in their spectrum licences.

Performing Arts

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the economic contribution to the UK economy of (a) West End theatres, (b) the UK theatre industry and (c) the Programme Making and Special Events sector in each year since 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Independent sector bodies have carried out assessments of the economic contribution of the arts to the UK economy. A report by the Society of London Theatre in 2013 showed that London Theatres grossed £0.53 billion in sales generating VAT receipts of £88 million.
	DCMS’s Creative Industries Economic Estimates, based on data from the Office of National Statistics available on a consistent basis since 2008, show the following contribution to the UK economy from Music and Visual and Performing Arts (including theatre) in Gross Value Added (GVA) terms:
	
		
			  GVA (£ million) 
			 2008 3,740 
			 2009 3,779 
			 2010 3,434 
			 2011 4,039 
			 2012 4,574

Radio Frequencies

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the UK's ability to host future major sporting or cultural events of a loss of access by programme making and special events users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) places of worship and (b) community centres of loss of access by wireless microphone users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment she has made of the potential safety and security risks at major national events arising from a loss of access by wireless microphone users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if she will make a statement;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the (a) film industry and (b) television production industry of a loss of access by wireless microphone users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: PMSE users currently have dedicated access to spectrum in channel 38 (between 606MHz and 614MHz) as well as access to interleaved spectrum for which no new equipment is required. Ofcom published a consultation on 24 April 2013 on the future use of the 700MHz band, and will ensure the views and spectrum requirements of the PMSE community and any other wireless microphone users are taken into account when advising on any decision. The consultation document and responses can be found on Ofcom’s website:
	http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/700mhz-cfi/
	There are also currently discussions in Europe on future spectrum provision for PMSE users and the potential requirement for further dedicated spectrum for these purposes.

Radio Frequencies

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the programme making and special events (PMSE) sector of a loss of access by PMSE users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the continuation to the UK economy by (a) West End theatres, (b) the UK theatre industry and (c) the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) sector of a loss of access by the PMSE sector to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on small and medium-sized enterprises operating within the (a) programme making and special events sector and (b) creative industries of reallocation of the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum to use by mobile network operators; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the corporate events and conference industry of a loss of access by wireless microphone users to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  for what reason his Department did not identify an alternative spectrum for use by the programme making and special events sector before the proposals to withdraw this sector's access to the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effects of international harmonisation of the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum on domestic small and medium-sized enterprises operating within (a) the programme making and special events sector and (b) the creative industries; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the costs likely to be incurred by the programme making and special effects sector through having to complete research and development into new equipment of the re-allocation of the 700 MHz band; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom published a consultation on the future use of the 700 MHz band on 28 May 2014. This consultation assesses the impact any loss of access to the 700 MHz band would have on the PMSE community. Ofcom will ensure the views and spectrum requirements of the PMSE community are taken into account when making any final decisions on the use of the band. The consultation document and responses can be found on Ofcom’s website:
	http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/700MHz/
	Ofcom is working with the PMSE community of users and manufacturers to mitigate the impact of any change of use of the 700 MHz band; and discussing with the regulatory authorities in other countries their approach to this issue. A key focus of their work in this area is seeking to identify and make available alternative spectrum for the PMSE community.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the press release from the Prime Minister's Office of 14 July 2014, entitled PM announces £1.1 billion investment in capabilities for the armed forces, whether this amount will be sourced from departmental underspends.

Philip Dunne: The £1.1 billion package has been funded predominantly by carrying over resources from 2012-13 and 2013-14. It has also been funded by drawing down some of the Ministry of Defence's unallocated financial provision to the appropriate level in the context of the most recent financial planning cycle, and by reprioritising some existing expenditure within the Defence programme.

Armed Forces: Cadets

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of the budget for the Cadet Expansion Programme has been spent to date.

Anna Soubry: To date, £4.3 million of the £10.85 million Cadet Expansion Programme budget has been spent. This represents 40% of the total budget.

Armed Forces: Criminal Investigation

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average time taken was by each arm of the Armed Forces to make serving personnel available to the civilian police in connection with criminal investigations in the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many approaches the civilian police have made to the Armed Forces for access to serving personnel in relation to indictable offences.

Anna Soubry: This information is not held in the format requested. The civil police are not required to seek the assistance or permission of relevant arms of the armed forces in relation to serving personnel being made available in connection with criminal investigations. However, if such an approach is made, then the service authorities will attempt to assist as far as they are able so to do.

Armed Forces: Grace and Favour Housing

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to the public purse was of running and maintaining each grace and favour residence provided by his Department to senior figures from the armed forces in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: Under previous arrangements, Official Service Residences (OSRs, colloquially known as ‘grace and favour’ residencies) were provided for senior officers in certain posts which required them to undertake official hospitality for Defence purposes. As announced by the then Minister for Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan), on 12 December 2011, Official Report, column 63WS, these arrangements have been discontinued. Properties which were formerly categorised as OSRs are being phased out on a rolling basis as personnel retire or move on to other posts. However, senior officers remain entitled to Service Family Accommodation (Type 1 or Type 2). In addition, the Department is undertaking an ongoing review into domestic assistance policy to ensure that the level of support provided to senior entitled officers is appropriate and driven by a clear business need. Information is available for financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 and is presented in the following tables:
	
		
			 OSRs 2009-10 location and occupancy 
			  Residence Occupant Rank 
			 1 London First Sea Lord Admiral 
			 2 Portsmouth Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral 
			 3 Dartmouth Cdre Britannia Royal Naval College Commodore 
			 4 Northwood Commander in Chief (CinC) Fleet Admiral 
			 5 Portsmouth Deputy CinC Fleet Admiral 
			 6 Devonport Flag Officer Sea Training Rear Admiral 
			 7 Helensburgh Flag Officer Scotland & Northern Ireland Rear Admiral 
			 8 Kensington Palace, London1 Chief of the General Staff General 
			 9 Camberley Commandant Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Major General 
			 10 Bulford CinC Land Forces General 
			 11 Edinburgh General Officer Commanding 2 Division Major General 
			 12 London General Officer Commanding London District Major General 
			 13 High Wycombe CinC Air Command Air Chief Marshall 
			 14 London Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshall 
			 15 High Wycombe Deputy CinC Personnel Air Marshall 
			 16 Cranwell Commandant RAF College Air Cdre 
			 17 London Vice Chief of the Defence Staff General 
			 18 London Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshall 
			 19 Northwood Chief of Joint Operations Air Marshall 
			 1 This property is part of The Crown Estate and a Grant in Aid is payable. 
		
	
	
		
			 OSR expenditure 2009-10 less utilities, staff and official entertainment 
			 £ 
			  Residence Rent Planned maintenance Unplanned maintenance Improvements DE furniture and equipment Furniture and equipment 
			 1 London 18,145 520 322 — 1,887 2,537 
			 2 Portsmouth — 190 38,289 — 434 7,176 
			 3 Dartmouth — 335 3,311 — — — 
			 4 Northwood 7,124 4,800 14,656 — — 3,801 
			 5 Portsmouth — 107,131 18,728 — 366 — 
			 6 Devonport — 1,423 2,346 — — 294 
			 7 Helensburgh — 9,201 1,949 — — — 
			 8 Kensington Palace 108,408 — — — — 2,959 
			 9 Camberley — 436 12,546 — — — 
			 10 Bulford 17,640 436 15,881 — 2,399 4,765 
			 11 Edinburgh — 10,982 5,815 — 5,265 760 
			 12 London 16,115 136,200 3,966 — — 3,548 
			 13 High Wycombe 19,350 393 7,461 — 405 — 
			 14 London 49,140 247 7,083 — 404 817 
			 15 High Wycombe 19,350 7,065 2,510 3,021 — — 
			 16 Cranwell 9,551 228 4,880 — — 793 
			 17 London 19,715 1,219 3,744 — — 5,202 
			 18 London 19,957 450 979 — — 523 
			 19 Northwood 30,240 5,359 1,921 — — 2,746 
		
	
	
		
			 OSR expenditure 2009-10 utilities, staff and official entertainment 
			 £ 
			  Residence Utilities Household staff Ents expenditure 
			 1 London — 161,000 2,305 
			 2 Portsmouth 2,646 126,008 8,122 
			 3 Dartmouth — 58,810 5,999 
			 4 Northwood — 160,584 6,320 
			 5 Portsmouth 1,395 74,074 1,291 
			 6 Devonport — 104,076 6,874 
			 7 Helensburgh 8,181 139,735 681 
			 8 Kensington Palace — 124,000 2,823 
			 9 Camberley — 89,437 5,568 
			 10 Bulford — 112,469 2,371 
			 11 Edinburgh — 95,847 3,857 
			 12 London — 101,591 836 
			 13 High Wycombe 4,354 56,111 1,585 
			 14 London — 112,000 6,641 
			 15 High Wycombe 4,364 50,805 2,953 
			 16 Cranwell 7,271 121,076 8,848 
		
	
	
		
			 17 London — 44,406 2,439 
			 18 London — 107,000 1,959 
			 19 Northwood 1,815 78,269 614 
		
	
	
		
			 OSRs 2010-11 location and occupancy 
			  Residence Occupant Rank 
			 1 London First Sea Lord Admiral 
			 2 Portsmouth Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral 
			 3 Dartmouth Commodore Britannia Royal Naval College Commodore 
			 4 Northwood Commander in Chief (CinC) Fleet Admiral 
			 5 Portsmouth Deputy CinC Fleet Admiral 
			 6 Devonport Flag Officer Sea Training Rear Admiral 
			 7 Helensburgh Flag Officer Scotland & Northern Ireland Rear Admiral 
			 8 Kensington Palace Chief of the General Staff General 
			 9 Camberley Commandant Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Major General 
			 10 Bulford CinC Land Forces General 
			 11 Edinburgh General Officer Commanding 2 Division Major General 
			 12 London General Officer Commanding London District Major General 
			 13 High Wycombe CinC Air Command Air Chief Marshall 
			 14 London Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshall 
			 15 High Wycombe Deputy CinC Personnel Air Marshall 
			 16 Cranwell Commandant RAF College Air Commodore 
			 17 London Vice Chief of the Defence Staff General 
			 18 London Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshall 
			 19 Northwood Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General 
		
	
	
		
			 OSR Expenditure 2010-11 less utilities, staff and official entertainment 
			 £ 
			  Residence Rent Planned maintenance Unplanned maintenance Improvements DE furniture and equipment Furniture and equipment 
			 1 London 18,145 63 614 — — — 
			 2 Portsmouth — 148 18,195 — 178 — 
			 3 Dartmouth — 6,317 1,741 1,510 — — 
			 4 Northwood 47,124 47,074 26,691 24,584 2,965 706 
			 5 Portsmouth — 481 4,920 — — 80 
			 6 Devonport — — — — — 992 
			 7 Helensburgh — 1,961 4,083 — — — 
			 8 Kensington Palace 112,200 — — — 3,363 — 
			 9 Camberley — 164 3,427 4,218 150 — 
			 10 Bulford 17,640 1,698 23,240 285 27 — 
			 11 Edinburgh — 1,703 9,831 — 49 — 
			 12 London 16,115 321 1,417 246 2,073 — 
			 13 High Wycombe 19,350 3,241 9,658 3,086 3,574 1,535 
			 14 London — 179 4,919 — 493 — 
			 15 High Wycombe 19,350 2,918 3,961 221 720 435 
			 16 Cranwell 9,551 80 2,036 — — 476 
			 17 London 19,715 424 190 1,051 2,434 — 
			 18 London 19,717 297 1,006 532 108 — 
			 19 Northwood 30,240 164 3,427 4,218 178 — 
		
	
	
		
			 Expenditure 2010-11 utilities, staff and official entertainment 
			 £ 
			  Residence Utilities Household staff Ents Expenditure 
			 1 London — 155,000 1,550 
			 2 Portsmouth 1,777 130,561 5,313 
			 3 Dartmouth — 58,810 2,581 
			 4 Northwood — 154,637 3,233 
			 5 Portsmouth 1,207 79,669 313 
			 6 Devonport — 109,466 3,986 
			 7 Helensburgh 10,292 125,405 242 
			 8 Kensington Palace — 91,000 1,823 
			 9 Camberley — — — 
			 10 Bulford — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 11 Edinburgh 17,871 97,987 887 
			 12 London — 140,035 — 
			 13 High Wycombe 3,557 65,140 2,540 
			 14 London 2,385 116,000 6,369 
			 15 High Wycombe 3,119 50,014 376 
			 16 Cranwell 7,450 124,104 5,098 
			 17 London — 46,000 629 
			 18 London — 114,000 34 
			 19 Northwood 1,888 77,294 1,411

Armed Forces: Injuries

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many compensation pay outs of what value have been issued by his Department on the grounds of personnel sustaining injuries through training in each year since 2010;
	(2)  what the value of payouts has been in each year since 2010 to forces personnel and veterans on the grounds of physical injuries.

Anna Soubry: Claims for damages brought against the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are not recorded in a manner that enables us to identify those for injuries received specifically in the course of training without incurring disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims have been brought forward under the (a) Armed Forces Pension Scheme and (b) War Pensions Scheme in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: There were no claims brought forward under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in each year since 2010. The number of outstanding claims under the War Pensions Scheme in each year since 2010 is:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11 3,695 
			 2011-12 5,775 
			 2012-13 9,210 
			 2013-14 7,645 
		
	
	In line with Defence statistics rounding policy all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims have been submitted to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of members whose pensions became payable in each year under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme since 2010 are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11 14,160 
			 2011-12 15,330 
			 2012-13 16,350 
			 2013-14 16,715 
		
	
	In line with Defence statistics rounding policy all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average length of time taken to process settlements for the Armed Forces Pension Scheme has been in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The key performance indicator for the Armed Forces Pensions Scheme is to make 99.3% of all service pension payments (including new awards) by the due date. This has been achieved in each year since 2010.

Armed Forces: Pensions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when designing the application process for the armed forces pension, what weight his Department gave to the ease of use of the system.

Anna Soubry: The Armed Forces Pension Scheme is an occupational pension scheme whereby the recipient has entitlement based on their reckonable service in HM Forces. Every effort is made to make the Armed Forces Pension Scheme application form (Pen1) as simple as possible while ensuring that all salient points are included, particularly for legal reasons.
	There is an online version of the application form which pre-fills several boxes using data taken directly from the Service person’s record. Current statistics on its use against paper applications are below which demonstrates its success.
	
		
			  January-June 2014 
			  Electronic Hard Copy Total 
			 January 1,352 242 1,594 
			 February 1,174 193 1,367 
			 March 1,131 256 1,387 
			 April 1,081 148 1,229 
			 May 1,166 167 1,333 
			 June 1,493 200 1,693 
			 Total 7,397 1,206 8,603 
			     
			 Average (percentage) 86 14 100

Billing

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has been able to distinguish between duplicate payments and other types of overpayment made to suppliers from financial year 2013-14. In that year, the total value of duplicate payments identified was £4.1 million, 100% of which has been recovered. Over the first quarter of 2014-15, we have identified duplicate payments to the value of £0.5 million of which 60% has so far been recovered. Prior to 2013-14 we were unable to distinguish duplicate supplier payments from other types of overpayments. However all overpayments have been recovered since 2010.
	The MOD processes over 4 million invoices a year totalling some £26 billion. We review our bill payment processes and controls periodically to ensure that we achieve the required high standards of performance and governance and seek to recover overpayments made to suppliers as quickly as possible.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Department continues to make good progress on rationalising the defence estate. In financial year 2013-14 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) generated £123 million of receipts from sales of estate that was surplus to Defence requirements.
	The MOD's target is to generate gross receipts of £1.9 billion through the disposal of property assets by financial year 2022-23.

Compensation

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the value is of compensation payouts issued by his Department on the grounds of (a) structural damage to private property and (b) loss of livestock in each year since 2010; and what the highest such payment in each case has been.

Anna Soubry: The amounts paid in the UK and abroad in regard to the two categories in question, including legal costs, were as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Structural/Property damage Amount paid Highest payment 
			 2010-11 185,000 125,000 
			 2011-12 42,000 6,000 
			 2012-13 122,000 7,000 
			 2013-14 202,000 15,000 
		
	
	
		
			 £ 
			 Loss of Livestock Amount paid Highest payment 
			 2010-11 114,000 23,000 
			 2011-12 443,000 23,000 
			 2012-13 290,000 15,000 
			 2013-14 521,000 15,000 
		
	
	These amounts do not include payments made by the Area Claims Office in Afghanistan, which are not recorded in a manner that can distinguish without incurring disproportionate cost between those claims relating to structural damage to private property and those relating to loss of livestock. The overall payments for damage to property, including legal costs, made over the periods in question in Afghanistan were as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Amount paid Highest payment 
			 2010-11 1,200,000 143,000 
			 2011-12 436,000 15,000 
			 2012-13 677,000 9,000 
			 2013-14 230,000 20,000

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) estimates a cost of 18.9p for each Ministerial reply based on stationery costs.
	In 2013, MOD Ministers responded to 4,853 letters from hon. Members and Peers, the cost of which would have been just under £920.
	As replies to parliamentarians are delivered by hand to Parliament, there is no cost incurred for postage.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has any plans to increase the number of replies within his Department's working day standard; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The handling of correspondence is given the highest priority by the Ministry of Defence and we aim to respond to all correspondence within 20 working days.

Defence Equipment

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions since 2010 product recall notices have been issued for equipment being used by the armed forces.

Philip Dunne: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

Julian Brazier: The UK has never been fined for an infraction for matters within the Ministry of Defence's responsibility.

European Fighter Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the E-Scan radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft (a) was originally expected to come into use and (b) is now expected to come into use.

Philip Dunne: The E-Scan Radar Development Programme for Typhoon is currently still within the Assessment Phase, prior to its main investment decision. Once this decision has been made an in-service date on UK aircraft will be determined.

Freedom of Information

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence engages the Treasury Solicitor to provide legal advice and advise counsel in cases that have been appealed to the Information Tribunal under the Freedom of Information Act.
	Departmental spend for this work is detailed in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year Total costs (£) Number of appeals 
			 2013-14 48,849.06 6 
			 2012-13 11,524.17 9 
			 2011-12 108,825.94 12 
			 2010-11 49,450.45 5 
		
	
	Figures for earlier years are not readily available. Figures provided are for the number of appeals for which MOD was billed in each financial year.

Guided Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of the integration of the Storm Shadow missile on the Typhoon aircraft.

Philip Dunne: The NATO Eurofighter Tornado Management Agency has awarded a contract valued at approximately £120 million to Eurofighter GmbH for the integration of Storm Shadow onto Typhoon.
	The full UK costs of the integration project are still being finalised but will be published in the National Audit Office Major Projects Report later in 2014.

Guided Weapons

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the introduction of the (a) Heavy and (b) Light Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon Systems on AW159 Wildcat Helicopters; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The Heavy and Light Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon systems will be introduced to Wildcat maritime helicopters with a planned in-service date of 2020.

HMS Illustrious

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what plans the Government has to preserve HMS Illustrious when she is withdrawn from service in December 2014; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if the Government will investigate the tourism potential of preserving HMS Illustrious.

Philip Dunne: HMS Illustrious, the last of three Invincible class aircraft carriers, will retire from the Royal Navy on 1 August 2014. As I informed the House on 10 September 2012, Official Report, column 1WS, in recognition of the service given by these ships in protecting the UK over the last 30 years, it is our preference to see HMS Illustrious preserved intact as a lasting tribute to the service personnel who served on all three of the carriers.
	In October 2013 the Ministry of Defence's Disposal Services Authority launched a competition to seek innovative reuse bids to retain HMS Illustrious in the UK, with part or all of it developed for heritage purposes, which could include tourism. The competition is ongoing and therefore no final decisions have been made on the ship's future.

Kenya

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his objectives are in negotiations with the Kenyan government on a memorandum of understanding for continued use of the Nanyuki training facility.

Mark Francois: The current memorandum of understanding concerning UK and Kenyan military co-operation includes UK use of training facilities in Kenya. This covers all activities until April 2015, when a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) is due to be signed. Constructive dialogue on the MOU continues, and we anticipate a successful outcome which will reflect the positions and requirements of the Kenyan and UK Governments, and permit continued military training in Kenya.

Lockheed Martin

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what hospitality the Chief of Defence Materiel has received from Lockheed Martin in each year since 2010;
	(2)  what meetings have been held between the Chief of Defence Materiel and representatives from Lockheed Martin in each year since 2010; and what was discussed at each.

Philip Dunne: Details of all meetings between the Chief of Defence Materiel (CDM) and external organisations are published online as part of the Government’s Transparency Agenda. Information covering the period from October 2010 until the end of December 2013 is available at the following link:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/senior-staff-meetings-with-external-organisations-ministry-of-defence
	Details of hospitality received by CDM is also published under Transparency and this can be viewed at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/senior-staff-hospitality-received
	Information covering the period from January 2014 to date will be published in due course.

Lockheed Martin

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials in his Department have held with representatives of Lockheed Martin in each year since 2010; and what was discussed at each such meeting;
	(2)  what events were hosted by Lockheed Martin which (a) Ministers in and (b) senior officials of his Department attended in an official capacity in each year since 2010; and what was discussed at each.

Philip Dunne: Details of meetings that Ministers and Ministry of Defence (MOD) 4 Star senior officials hold with external organisations are published online as part of the Government’s Transparency Agenda. Selected 3 Star details are also published. Information covering the period from May 2010 until the end of December 2013 is available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings
	Information relating to meetings from January 2014 to date will be published in due course.
	Details of direct meetings between MOD 3 Star senior officials and Lockheed Martin (LM) since April 2010 are shown in the table. The list includes MOD 3 Star attendance at events hosted by LM, but does not include wider industry events, conferences or seminars at which LM may have been represented. It should be noted that this information is unlikely to be comprehensive as some details, particularly for earlier years, are no longer held. Information relating to senior officials below 3 Star level could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	Representatives from LM also attend a number of senior level forums/working groups, including the Defence Suppliers Forum (DSF), DSF sub-groups covering Single Source Procurement Reform and exports, and Materiel Strategy industry briefings. These groups have all met regularly since 2011.
	
		
			 Position Date of meeting Title of meeting/events 
			 MOD Chief Information Officer 29 July 2014 Overview of current activity and future plans 
			    
			 Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Capability)1,2. March 2013 Visit programme 
			  11/12 September 2013 Update on current/emerging projects at Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEI) 
			    
			 Director General Exports 24 January 2014 General catch-up 
			  26 February 2014 Introduction call 
			  04 June 2014 Military Flying Training System and Ascent 
			  11 July 2014 Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) Gala Dinner (co-sponsored by LM and BAE Systems) 
			    
			 Director General Finance1. 10 December 2012 Routine catch-up with Chief Executive (CE) LM UK 
			  26 March 2012 Routine catch-up with CE LM UK 
			  4 April 2013 Routine catch-up with CE LM UK 
			  3 July 2013 Routine catch-up with CE LM UK 
			  22 October 2013 Routine catch-up with CE LM UK 
			    
			 Commander Force Development and Training 12 November 2012 VIP dinner hosted by LM 
			  15 July 2014 Visit to LM Intelligence Centre 
			    
			 Deputy Commander Capability and Air Member for Personnel and Capability 19 September 2011 Office call 
			  14 November 2011 Office call 
			  12 April 2012 Office call 
			  23 April 2012 Update meeting 
			  24 September 2012 Meeting regarding Lightning II and Military Flying Training System 
			  4 October 2012 LM Technology Conference 
			  31 January 2013 Joint Strike Fighter Programme 
			  23 July 2013 Guild of Aviation Artists Cocktail Party hosted by LM 
			  7 August 2013 Dinner. Six-monthly update 
			  20 August 2013 Visit to LM, Virginia, USA. F35 Lightning II/C130 Hercules 
			  17 December 2013 Office call 
			  15 January 2014 Meeting regarding Military Flying Training System 
			  3 February 2014 Update meeting 
		
	
	
		
			  16 July 2014 Visit to VIP Chalet at Farnborough Airshow 
			    
			 Deputy Commander Operations and Air Member for Operations 12 September 2013 Visit to LM stand at DSEI 
			  19 February 2014 Office call 
			    
			 Surgeon General 11 July 2014 RIAT Gala Dinner (co-sponsored by LM and BAE Systems) 
			    
			 Chief of Defence Intelligence 23 July 2010 Invite to Farnborough 
			  4 October 2012 Lockheed Martin UK conference 
			  3 April 2014 DI50 dinner. Lockheed Martin was one of four sponsors for the dinner 
			    
			 DE&S Chief of Materiel Land1,3 09 May 2012 Board to Board dinner 
			  19 June 2012 Working dinner prior to DVD 2012 
			  11 November 2012 Routine Meeting 
			  11 July 2013 Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) update 
			  11 September 2013 WCSP and Joint Asset Management Engineering Solution (JAMES) update 
			  11 September 2013 Drinks reception during DSEI 2013 
			  06 December 2013 SCOUT Specialist Vehicle update 
			  18 December 2013 WCSP Meeting 
			  08 January 2014 WCSP Meeting 
			    
			 DE&S Chief of Materiel Fleet1 12 June 2012 General discussion 
			  31 October 2012 General discussion 
			  29 January 2014 General discussion 
			    
			 DE&S Chief of Materiel Air1 7 July 2011 Future Brize discussions 
			  25 August 2011 Sustainment wargames 
			  10 October 2011 Working dinner with LM Business Development Director 
			  8 December 2011 Joint Combat Aircraft Safety Case 
			  17 January 2013 Supporting Min (DEST) at introductory call 
			  11 February 2013 Discussions on C130 and F-35 
			  23 February 2014 F-35 program 
			  24 February 2014 F-35 sustainment 
			  27 May 2014 F-35 
			  11 July 2014 Discussion on F-35 at RIAT 
			  15 July 2014 Discussion on F-35 and C130 at Farnborough Airshow 
			    
			 DE&S Chief of Materiel Joint Enablers1 14 April 2010 Dinner 
			  26 April 2010 General catch-up 
			  11 May 2010 Dinner 
			  19 May 2010 Dinner 
			  25 May 2010 Dinner 
			  4 June 2010 Working lunch 
			  29 March 2011 Reception 
			  13 April 2011 US visit 
			  20 July 2011 Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP) Review 
			  8 September 2011 General catch-up 
			  15 September 2011 DSEI chalet visit 
			  22 September 2011 General catch-up 
			  24 October 2011 LEAPP Review 
			  7 December 2011 LEAPP Review 
			  24 January 2012 LEAPP Review 
			  22 March 2012 LEAPP Review 
			  11 April 2012 Visit LM Cyber Division 
		
	
	
		
			  31 May 2012 General catch-up 
			  15 August 2012 LEAPP Review 
			  18 October 2012 General catch-up 
			  20 November 2012 LEAPP Review 
			  4 April 2013 LEAPP Review 
			  10 July 2013 LEAPP Review 
			  20 July 2013 RIAT chalet visit 
			  28 August 2013 LEAPP Review 
			  12 September 2013 DSEI chalet visit 
			  27 January 2014 General catch-up 
			  27 March 2014 LEAPP Review 
			  4 April 2014 General catch-up 
			  3 June 2014 LEAPP Review 
			  12 July 2014 RIAT chalet visit 
			    
			 Chief Scientific Adviser1. 14 December 2010 Meeting with Serco and Chief Operating Officer, LM 
			  14 April 2011 Office call with LM Non-Executive Director 
			  c. 29 October 2013 Office call with LM Space Systems 
			  30 January 2014 Office call with LM Space Systems 
			    
			 Director General Military Aviation Authority 30 August 2011 Working dinner 
			  13 September 2011 Visit to LM stand at DSEI 
			  5 January 2012 Routine discussion 
			  7 February 2012 ADS dinner at LM table 
			  11 June 2012 Routine discussion 
			  12 September 2012 Routine discussion 
			  8 November 2012 Routine discussion 
			  21 January 2013 Routine discussion 
			  3 July 2013 Routine discussion 
			  20 January 2014 Routine discussion 
			  4 August 2014 Routine discussion 
			    
			 Defence Senior Advisor to the Middle East 3 July 2012 Meeting with KBR (LM part of consortium) regarding Libyan Border Project 
			  25 September 2012 Middle East activities 
			  10 October 2012 Call at LM offices 
			  8 February 2013 Middle East activities 
			  12 July 2013 Middle East activities 
			  1 October 2013 Middle East activities 
			  10 February 2014 Lunch meeting. Middle East activities. 
			 1 Limited information about meetings with external organisations published online under the Transparency Agenda 2 Information prior to August 2011 not held. 3 Information prior to May 2012 not held. 
			 1 Limited information about meetings with external organisations published online under the Transparency Agenda 2 Information prior to August 2011 not held. 3 Information prior to May 2012 not held.

Military Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much will it cost his Department to keep Sentinel aircraft in service in each year until 2018

Philip Dunne: The cost to keep Sentinel aircraft in service in each year until 2018 is shown in the table:
	
		
			 Financial Year £ million 
			 2015-16 63.541 
			 2016-17 54.644 
			 2017-18 45.054 
			 2018-19 35.158 
			 Total 198.398

Military Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when it was decided that his Department would maintain the use of the Sentinel aircraft until 2018; and what the reasons were for this decision.

Philip Dunne: The decision to extend the Sentinel long-range airborne surveillance aircraft until 2018 was made in the Department’s most recent financial planning cycle. The decision was taken to preserve a capability to conduct wide area surveillance of operational environments in the short term, and to allow the longer-term requirement to be considered during the next Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Military Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the new contract to extend the life of the Sentinel aircraft until 2018 will be signed.

Philip Dunne: The Sentinel aircraft fleet is supported by a number of logistic support contracts, each of which has a different expiry date. Defence Equipment and Support is currently working to extend all contracts before their respective expiry dates.

Military Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of expanding the capabilities of the Sentinel R.1.

Philip Dunne: Enhancements to the Sentinel R1 aircraft are currently the subject of commercial negotiations. I am therefore withholding details of the potential costs, as the disclosure of this information would be prejudicial to the commercial interests of the Ministry of Defence.

Military Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what communication (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with the Boeing Company regarding the lease of four P-8A aircraft.

Philip Dunne: I am withholding the information requested, as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the formulation or development of Government policy.

Procurement

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has paid in compensation as a result of contractual disputes with suppliers in each year since 2010.

Philip Dunne: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

RAF Northolt

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds he has concluded that the use of RAF Northolt for commercial flights does not constitute state aid; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The fees charged at RAF Northolt are in excess of the amount required by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to cover its costs in the provision of commercial services and are calculated to be at market rate. The MOD is therefore obtaining market value for the commercial services that it provides and so it does not constitute state aid.

RAF Northolt

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) attendance by RAF Northolt personnel and (b) related marketing materials at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition on 20 to 22 May 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The cost to the public purse for attendance and related marketing material was around £5,500.

Roads: Accidents

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has paid in compensation to victims of road traffic accidents in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: Claims for damages brought against the Ministry of Defence (MOD) specifically by victims of road traffic accidents are not recorded in a manner that enables us to identify them without incurring disproportionate cost. The amounts paid as a result of claims brought by third parties against the MOD arising out of road traffic accidents, including legal costs, since 2010 were as follows:
	
		
			  Amount paid (£ million) 
			 2010-11 6 
			 2011-12 5 
			 2012-13 4 
			 2013-14 3

Service Personnel

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many service personnel of each rank there were in the Royal Air Force in each year since 2010;
	(2)  how many service personnel of each rank there were in the Army in each year since 2010;
	(3)  how many service personnel of each rank there were in the Royal Navy in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The information requested is provided in the following tables:
	
		
			 UK Regular Royal Navy/Royal Marines personnel, by rank as at 1 April each year 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 
			 Total 38,730 37,660 35,540 33,960 33,330 
			       
			 Officers 7,460 7,410 7,190 6,940 6,800 
			 Admiral (RN)/General (RM) 2 2 2 2 1 
			 Vice Admiral (RN)/Lt General (RM) 9 7 8 9 8 
			 Rear Admiral (RN)/Major General (RM) 29 33 31 30 29 
			 Commodore (RN)/Brigadier (RM) 80 80 80 80 80 
		
	
	
		
			 Captain (RN)/Colonel (RM) 290 300 300 280 260 
			 Commander (RN)/Lt Colonel (RM) 1,140 1,130 1,060 1,020 1,030 
			 Lt Commander (RN)/Major (RM) 2,260 2,210 2,100 2,040 2,000 
			 Lieutenant (RN) or Captain (RM) 2,890 2,860 2,870 2,770 2,670 
			 Sub-Lt/Midshipman (RN) or Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant (RM) 750 800 740 710 720 
			       
			 Other Ranks 31,270 30,240 28,350 27,020 26,530 
			 Warrant Officer 1 770 740 690 640 660 
			 Warrant Officer 2 790 800 770 730 670 
			 Chief Petty Officer (RN) / Colour Sergeant (RM) 3,940 3,800 3,530 3,300 3,090 
			 Petty Officer (RN) / Sergeant (RM) 4,600 4,460 4,200 3,880 3,650 
			 Leading Rate (RN) / Corporal (RM) 6,220 6,270 6,020 5,750 5,650 
			 Lance Corporal (RM) 570 530 610 590 660 
			 Able Rate (RN) 14,380 13,640 12,560 12,120 12,140 
		
	
	
		
			 UK Regular Army personnel, by rank as at 1 April each year 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 
			 Total 108,920 106,240 104,250 99,730 91,070 
			       
			 Officers 14,640 14,760 14,480 13,890 13,200 
			 General 5 6 5 5 5 
			 Lt General 14 9 9 10 11 
			 Major General 40 43 42 44 39 
			 Brigadier 180 170 170 150 160 
			 Colonel 600 580 530 530 520 
			 Lt Colonel 1,770 1,780 1,760 1,690 1,670 
			 Major 4,700 4,700 4,520 4,340 4,150 
			 Captain 4 940 5 040 5 030 4 770 4 490 
			 Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant/Officer Cadet 2,390 2,440 2,410 2,340 2,160 
			       
			 Other Ranks 94,280 91,480 89,780 85,840 77,860 
			 Warrant Officer 1 1,700 1,620 1,490 1,390 1,340 
			 Warrant Officer 2 4,790 4,500 4,320 3,990 3,730 
			 Staff Sergeant 6,030 5,950 5,790 5,700 5,280 
			 Sergeant 10,170 10,090 9,760 9,270 8,230 
			 Corporal 15,450 15,330 14,990 14,420 13,520 
			 Lance Corporal 15,960 16,200 16,050 15,190 14,030 
			 Private 40,180 37,800 37,380 35,880 31,730 
		
	
	
		
			 UK Regular RAF personnel, by rank as at 1 April each year 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 
			 Total 44,050 42,460 40,000 37,030 35,230 
			       
			 Officers 9,820 9,660 9,030 8,230 7,850 
			 Air Chief Marshal 3 3 3 2 2 
			 Air Marshal 8 8 8 9 8 
			 Air Vice-Marshal 26 26 28 23 27 
			 Air Commodore 90 90 80 80 80 
			 Group Captain 330 330 310 300 300 
			 Wing Commander 1,210 1,180 1,100 1,040 1,020 
			 Squadron Leader 2,570 2,540 2,430 2,260 2,200 
			 Flight Lieutenant 4,080 4,180 4,130 3,890 3,560 
			 Flying Officer/Pilot Officer/Acting Pilot Officer 1,510 1,300 940 630 650 
			       
			 Other Ranks 34,230 32,810 30,970 28,790 27,380 
			 Master Aircrew 1 200 1 130 1 060 980 970 
			 Warrant Officer * * * * * 
			 Flight Sergeant/Chief Technician 3,200 3,130 2,910 2,720 2,540 
			 Sergeant 6,310 6,140 5,760 5,500 5,210 
			 Corporal 8,440 8,250 7,880 7,370 7,000 
			 Lance Corporal * 150 210 220 200 
			 Senior Aircraftman/woman/Leading Aircraftman/woman/Aircraftman/woman 15,080 14,020 13,150 12,010 11,470 
			 Notes: 1. UK Regular Forces includes trained and untrained personnel and excludes Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve personnel, and mobilised reservists. 2. When rounding, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. "*" denotes not applicable. Source: All data provided by Defence Statistics

Service Personnel and Veterans Agency

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary redundancies have been issued to employees of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The total number of compulsory and voluntary redundancies that have been issued to employees of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency in each year since 2010 is set out in the table.
	
		
			  Number1 of redundancies from SPVA 
			  Compulsory Voluntary Total 
			 2010 * 9 12 
			 2011 - - 0 
			 2012 * - * 
			 2013 * - * 
			 2014 - - 0 
			 Total 8 9 17 
			 1 In line with departmental policy * Represents 5 or fewer

Social Networking

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Twitter accounts are run by his Department; how much his Department spends annually on (a) Twitter accounts and (b) all social media; and how many people in his Department are employed to work on social media.

Anna Soubry: A Twitter account run by the Department is a Twitter account that has been registered either by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) or one of the single services (either corporate or sponsored accounts). The MOD currently runs 109 Twitter accounts.
	Spending on Twitter accounts includes money paid to Twitter in financial year (FY) 2013-14. See table.
	Spending on all social media includes money paid to other social media channels directly during FY 2013-14. The MOD spent £87,206 on Twitter in FY 2013-14 and £767,981.89 on all social media. See table.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Department Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Flickr Blogs Other Total 
			 MOD — — — — 14.61 148.78 — — 
			 Royal Navy 175,000 1223,000 137,000 1204,000 235.53 — — — 
			 British Army 3 12,206 4 105,737.48 — — — 40 459 — 
			 Royal Air Force — 530,200 — 535,000 — — — — 
			 Dstl — — 40,000 — — — — — 
			 UK Hydrographic Office — — — — — — — 6 5,140.49 
			 1 Recruitment. 2 Covers two years. 3 @armyjobs 4 Army Jobs. 5 Careers. 6 Figures not split by channel.

Submarines

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many medical downgrades there have been in the Submarine Service since the removal of retention and recruitment pay, in each month for which figures are available.

Anna Soubry: Recruitment and retention payments for the Submarine Service have not been removed.

Tornado Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of the new common jamming pod for the Tornado aircraft; and when the requirement for that pod was first identified.

Philip Dunne: A requirement for a new common jamming pod was first identified in 2012. The total approved value of the project is £50.9 million.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the press release from the Prime Minister's Office of 14 July 2014, entitled PM announces £1.1 billion investment in capabilities for the armed forces, how much he plans to invest in unmanned future combat air systems.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence is investing over £100 million in future combat air systems as part of the £1.1 billion investment in capabilities for the armed forces.

Veterans UK

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints Veterans UK has received since its creation; and whether those complaints have been categorised.

Anna Soubry: Veterans UK was formed on 1 April 2014 as part of the merger of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency into Defence Business Services.
	Veterans UK has received a total of 122 complaints since April 2014. These are broken down into 25 Armed Forces Pension Scheme, and 97 War Pension and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme complaints.

Veterans: Advisory Services

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to lay before the House a Statutory Instrument to reflect the establishment of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees; and if he will make statement.

Anna Soubry: It is our intention to change legislation to reflect the establishment of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees. The Armed Forces Bill 2015 represents the most likely opportunity to make the change through primary legislation.

War Pensions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims have been submitted to the War Pensions Scheme in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The total number of claims submitted under the War Pensions Scheme in each year since 2010 are:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11 24,345 
			 2011-12 22,520 
			 2012-13 21,865 
			 2013-14 21,460 
		
	
	In line with Defence statistics rounding policy all figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: The Department of Energy and Climate Change currently occupies four buildings in London and one in Aberdeen. DECC’s current occupation is in line with the Cabinet Office directives of fewer desks than staff (Full-Time Equivalent—FTE) and within 8-10m2 per FTE (by December 2015).
	The lease in Aberdeen is due to expire in May 2016 and alternative accommodation will be sought with value for money as one of the key objectives.
	London accommodation is being reviewed with a view to reducing the existing four buildings to two in 2015, and therefore reducing the overall cost of the estate. In order to achieve this, alterations will be required to the two remaining buildings. These changes will be in line with the Cabinet Office directives listed above as well as the Civil Service Reform Plan.

Energy: Consumption

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the energy savings opportunity scheme proposed in his consultation document of July 2013, what estimate he made at the time of publication of that document of the maximum potential value of savings to the UK economy arising from that scheme by 2020; and what his current estimate is of such savings.

Amber Rudd: At the time of publication of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) consultation document, the Government estimated that ESOS would have a net present value ranging from £900 million to £3 billion, with a central estimate of £1.9 billion, measured over the period 2015 to 2030. The Final Stage Impact Assessment, published alongside the Government’s Response to the ESOS Consultation, took account of new evidence which led to it revising down the estimated net present value, to between £600 million and £2.7 billion, with a central estimate of £1.6 billion. The reasons for this change are set out on pages 17-19 of the Final Stage Impact Assessment, which can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323116/ESOS_Impact_Assessment_FINAL.pdf

Energy: Meters

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of whether the accessibility online of energy usage and efficiency data means that in-home energy displays are no longer needed.

Amber Rudd: The Government recognises that online sources of energy usage information can be useful but does not believe that these can substitute for in-home displays in delivering the benefits of smart meters.
	In home displays allow consumers and their family members to see immediately their current and historic energy use and its cost in near-real time and do not rely on consumers having internet access or smart phones. Current evidence shows higher energy savings from those with a smart meter and IHD compared to those with a smart meter only.
	Energy suppliers are free to offer additional means for their customers to engage with their energy usage, which may be available online and offer different forms of analysis to the IHD. We expect that some consumers will want different information but believe that all should have the information provided by IHDs readily available.
	We will continue to monitor the evidence in this area and emerging technical developments to ensure that our policy remains appropriate.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

Amber Rudd: The Government has not lost any EU infraction proceedings brought against the UK since 2010 relating to matters falling within the Department's responsibility.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 304W, on the Green Deal Scheme, whether the £450 million of financial support for domestic installation of energy efficiency measures announced in the Autumn Statement in December 2013 is in addition to (a) the £125 million allocated to the Green Deal Cashback Scheme announced in January 2013 and (b) the £200 million allocated to the Green Deal Programme in November 2011.

Amber Rudd: The funds announced in the autumn statement in December 2013 are additional to the others mentioned, and cover difficult financial periods.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 304W, on the Green Deal Scheme, if he will make it his policy that no household receives more in money back under the Green Deal Home Improvements Fund than the cost of the installation of the energy efficiency measures.

Amber Rudd: The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund rules state that households are not able to receive more money back than the cost of the installation of the energy efficiency measures.
	The full rules are set out in the Customer Terms and Conditions which are available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures/get-money-back-from-the-green-deal-home-improvement-fund

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2014, Official Report, column 536W, on the Green Deal Scheme, how much of the £200 million announced in November 2011 has (a) been spent, (b) been allocated for expenditure and (c) not yet been allocated for expenditure.

Amber Rudd: Of the £200 million announced in November 2011, as of the end of March 2014, £142.98 million had been spent by DECC.
	The figure given for spend in 2013-14 includes the recently launched Green Deal Communities programme —an £88 million fund to support 24 local authority consortia (covering c100 local authorities in total) to deliver Green Deal street by street. In addition, as part of the autumn statement, the Government announced that £450 million will be made available to support household energy efficiency incentives over the next three years.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 305W, on housing energy, what programmes, projects and policies were funded under the financial support allocated to the Green Deal Programme in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.

Amber Rudd: Financial support allocated to the Green Deal Programme has chiefly funded the following projects and policies:
	Delivery of these schemes was, or is, funded by the obligated energy companies, not Government, and administration is undertaken by Ofgem. Ofgem is funded by DECC for the administration of CESP and ECO.
	Delivery of the Energy Saving Advice Service-a telephone response service taking calls from the public and the industry, providing advice to people enquiring about information on the Green Deal or household energy efficiency measures. This service remains in operation.
	Funding for the Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body-the independent governance body for the Green Deal supply chain. This remains in operation.
	DECC’s investment in The Green Deal Finance Company.
	Core Cities-a project to enable bids from Local Authorities of the Core Cities to install energy-saving measures in their housing stock, mostly in 2012/13. This has been completed.
	Green Deal Cashback-a scheme to provide grant funding to support households in the installation of energy-saving measures. The scheme opened in January 2013 and closed to new applicants on 30 June 2014.
	Green Deal Communities-a scheme to provide funding for Local Authorities to implement energy-saving measures in their housing stock. Funding was available in 2013/14.
	Supporting IT development and systems-the procurement, supervision and control of IT systems to enable Energy Performance Certificates, Green Deal Assessments and Green Deal financing to be delivered to applicants.
	Funding the administration by Ofgem of:
	Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP)-closed.
	Energy Company Obligation (ECO)-open.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 305W, on housing: energy, how much of the financial support allocated to the Green Deal Programme in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14 was spent in each year.

Amber Rudd: As of the end of March 2014, £186.7 million had been spent by DECC; £9.3 million in 2011-12, £62.6 million in 2012-13 and £114.8 million in 2013-14. There was also a small amount of Green Deal policy development prior to April 2011.
	In addition to implementing the core Green Deal framework, the figure given for total spend includes for instance that for the recently launched Green Deal Communities programme-an £88 million fund to support 24 local authority consortia (covering c100 local authorities in total) to deliver Green Deal on a street by street basis. It also comprises other schemes relating to wider energy efficiency work including the Energy Technologies List (ETL), Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED).

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 304W, on the Green Deal Scheme, 
	(1)  how many households have received money from the Green Deal Home Improvements Fund to date;
	(2)  what the average amount paid has been to households under the Green Deal Home Improvements Fund to date.

Amber Rudd: As at 14 July 2014, 6,607 vouchers have been issued under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund with a maximum potential value of £36,484,100.
	Data on numbers of vouchers issued is currently published weekly on the Gov.Uk website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-savings-advice-service-esas-calls-and-green-deal-webpage-views

Green Deal Scheme

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding from the Green Deal has (a) Tivium Limited, (b) Green Deal Marketing Services Limited, (c) Tivium Green Deal Installers Limited and (d) Nationwide Green Deal Installers Limited received; and whether the actions of the directors of each company are under investigation.

Amber Rudd: The Green Deal does not offer funding to companies participating in the scheme.

Green Deal Scheme

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to ensure that Green Deal companies employed by the Government are not making nuisance calls under the contract.

Amber Rudd: The Government does not employ Green Deal companies.

Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 304W, on the green deal scheme, what estimate his Department has made of the average cost of energy efficiency improvements for households that have received money back under the green deal home improvements fund.

Amber Rudd: As at 14 July 2014, 6,607 vouchers have been issued under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund with a maximum potential value of £36,484,100.
	Data on numbers of vouchers issued is currently published weekly on the gov.uk website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-savings-advice-service-esas-calls-and-green-deal-webpage-views

Renewables Obligation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the annual saving to the Levy Control Framework budget from closure of the Renewables Obligation to large-scale solar from April 2015; what that saving is as a proportion of that budget in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018, (d) 2019 and (e) 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: In its consultation issued on 13 May 2014, DECC has proposed closing the Renewables Obligation (RO) to new solar PV capacity above 5MW from 31 March 2015. We consider this to be necessary because large-scale solar PV is deploying more rapidly than expected. This poses a substantial risk to our ability to manage the levy control framework budget, and therefore our ability to minimise costs of renewables deployment for consumers.
	The impact assessment published alongside the consultation set out the projected impact of proposed intervention on deployment and spend. Option 1 below assumes no action; option 2 is the proposed intervention:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-changes-to-financial-support-for-solar-pv

Solar Power

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the additional solar PV expected to be deployed to 2020-21 as a result of the measures proposed in the latest feed-in tariff consultation.

Amber Rudd: We have used scenario-based analysis to illustrate a range of potential outcomes under each policy. For the changes to the FITs degression mechanism to support midscale building-mounted solar, the scenarios for deployment in 2020-21 are set out in Table 5 here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310432/2014-05-13_-_FITs_solar_consultation_IA_-_FOR_PUBLICATION.pdf
	For increasing the maximum capacity ceiling to 10 MW for community projects, the range of deployment under the scenarios is set out in Table 3 here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310416/impact_assessment.pdf

Solar Power

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of whether support levels for accredited solar PV plants will be maintained for the 20 year duration specified in the Renewables Obligation order; and what the Government’s policy is on (a) Renewables Obligation scheme and (b) solar PV.

Amber Rudd: The Government has no plans to change the 20-year duration of support under the renewables obligation (RO) for accredited solar PV stations. DECC has recently consulted on proposals to control the deployment of new solar PV capacity above 5 MW under the RO. A copy of the consultation document is available on DECC’s web page:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-changes-to-financial-support-for-solar-pv
	With regard to our policy on the RO scheme, DECC has laid draft regulations before Parliament which will bring about the closure of the RO to new capacity on 31 March 2017 as planned, subject to parliamentary approval. The Government has proposed closing the RO to new solar capacity above 5 MW two years earlier, from 31 March 2015. We consider this to be necessary because large-scale solar PV is deploying more rapidly than expected. This poses a substantial risk to our ability to manage the levy control framework budget, and therefore our ability to minimise costs of renewables deployment for consumers. The consultation closed on 7 July and consultation responses are being considered. We will publish a Government Response setting out our decision as soon as possible.
	The UK has seen a remarkable transformation in solar PV deployment under the coalition Government: solar capacity stood at 3.5 GW at the end of the first quarter of 2014, increasing its share to 17% of all renewables capacity. The Government remains committed to solar PV, and the measures that we set out in our UK Solar PV Strategy will ensure that solar PV continues to be a vital part of the UK’s renewable energy mix for many years to come. A copy of the Strategy is available on DECC’s web page:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-solar-pv-strategy-part-1-roadmap-to-a-brighter-future

Staff

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the total staff cost has been of (a) the Office of Unconventional Oil and Gas, (b) the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage, (c) his Department's human resources services, (d) the EMR delivery unit and (e) his Department's press office in each year since June 2010.

Amber Rudd: The information is as follows:
	
		
			 £ thousand 
			 Business Area 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Unconventional Oil & Gas — — — 448 
			 OCCS 1,419 1,762 2,515 2,570 
			 HR 1,385 1,614 1,968 2,044 
			 EMR Delivery Unit — — — 4,299 
			 Communications (incl. Press Office) 1,764 1,408 1,643 2,384

Staff

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many officials in his Department are employed full-time in connection with implementing the Eco Design of Energy Related Products Directive, 2009/125/EC.

Amber Rudd: Following remaining recruitment, the Department will have five full-time officials working on Eco Design and Energy Labelling Directives.
	ICF International are contracted by the team to provide technical advice and this is supplemented by support from analysts across DECC’s Energy Efficiency Deployment Office.
	DECC have appointed the National Measurement Office to monitor compliance and enforce the Eco Design and Energy Labelling implementing measures within the UK.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department's policy is on alcohol consumption on the premises (a) in general and (b) during parties in her Private Office.

Karen Bradley: There is no prohibition of alcohol in the Department. This includes ministerial and official private offices.

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest period between inspection visits made to any UK establishment licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (as amended 2012) currently is for establishments deemed by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit to be of (a) high, (b) medium and (c) low risk.

Norman Baker: To identify the longest period between inspection visits made to any UK establishment licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (as amended 2012) can be established only at disproportionate cost.
	The Home Office Inspectorate follows a risk-based approach in deciding how often to visit an establishment. The risk assessment is specific to each establishment taking account of the factors as published in the 2012 Animals in Science Regulation annual report. Visiting frequency varies from at least once per year for a low risk establishment carrying out little or no research, through to some 40 times per year for large, high risk establishments.

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the changes in the number of procedures in the fundamental biological research category.

Norman Baker: The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 1.16 million procedures were conducted on animals with ‘Fundamental biological research’ as the primary purpose. This is a reduction of 11% over the figure for 2012. The change in the number of procedures carried out in this category, in any particular year, depends on many factors. These factors include: investment in fundamental biological research; strategic decisions taken by funding bodies; global economic trends; scientific innovation; and, the development and uptake of validated alternative technologies.

Animal Experiments

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the large number of procedures in the direct diagnosis category;
	(2)  with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what procedures are included in the direct diagnosis category.

Norman Baker: The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 52,444 procedures were conducted on 6,725 animals with “Direct diagnosis” as the primary purpose. This represents a 3% increase on the total number of procedures, in this category, in 2012 and a 1% increase on the number of animals, in this category, in 2012. Most procedures reported under the category “Direct diagnosis” involve the collection of blood or blood products from either non-immunised animals or animals immunised against various antigens. The procedure of blood collection is classified as being of low severity and, with appropriate licence authority, may be repeated many times in the same animal. The products from these procedures, including whole blood and antisera, are used in diagnostic tests.

Animal Experiments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the publication of Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of guinea pigs used in scientific procedures; and how many of those guinea pigs were used by DSTL Porton Down.

Norman Baker: The increase in the number of guinea pigs used in scientific procedures during 2013 is largely due to a change from tissue (mainly blood) collection post-mortem to collecting it ante-mortem. Collecting tissues post mortem is not a regulated procedure and therefore is not reported in the statistics.
	In real terms, the number of guinea pigs needed for the collection of a specified volume of blood is fewer by the ante-mortem method than by the post-mortem method previously used. The blood collection is carried out on terminally anaesthetised guinea pigs, such that there is no actual additional suffering for the individual animals, compared with the post mortem method. Guinea pig blood and its components are used widely in biomedical research as reagents for non-animal research methods.
	The number of guinea pigs used by DSTL Porton Down cannot be given as Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 prevents the Home Office from releasing statistics for individual establishments. It is a decision for the Ministry of Defence to decide what information to release in regards to animals used under their individual certificates.

Animal Experiments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her Department's publication, Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of procedures involving genetically-modified and harmful mutant animals; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the numbers of such procedures.

Norman Baker: The increase in the number of procedures involving genetically-modified and harmful mutant animals is mainly in support of breeding for non-regulatory research. Such animals are only used for breeding with no subsequent procedures performed.
	I have already asked officials to examine options to drive down the number of procedures for breeding genetically altered animals.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to provide for whistle-blowers to report concerns over breaches of animal experimentation licences.

Norman Baker: The Animals in Science Committee report on "Lessons to be Learnt" recommended that Establishment Licence holders should ensure that all those involved with work under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have a readily accessible means of raising ‘causes for concern’ with the management of their establishment. The Government response confirmed that we will take this forward.
	Mechanisms for raising causes of concerns should be an integral component of a good culture of care and therefore bought into the remit of the Home Office Inspectorate. The Inspectorate has already worked with several organisations to develop guidance for interested parties.
	Establishment licence holders should have systems in place to facilitate reporting of concerns as part of the requirement of the Animal Welfare & Ethical Review Body to establish and review management and operational processes for monitoring, reporting and follow up in relation to the welfare of animals housed or used in the licensed establishment.
	The processes put in place are monitored as part of the inspection regime.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to ensure that research scientists are given appropriate training to understand the terms of their animal experimentation licences.

Norman Baker: The training requirements for all licence holders under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are set out in section 9 of the Guidance on the Operation of the 1986 Act.
	The licensed establishments Named Training & Competency Officer (NTCO) has to confirm the suitability of applicants for personal licences and applicants are required to satisfactorily complete the relevant formal module training provided by Accredited Training Bodies.
	Personal licence holders are also required to undertake practical training under supervision until confirmed as competent in each technique at their place(s) of work. They should review their training and supervision needs regularly with their NTCO as a minimum every five years but generally more frequently.
	Training for project licence holders includes the formal module training required and applicants will need to demonstrate the necessary scientific expertise and knowledge to direct and manage the programme of work applied for.
	Establishment licence holders and Named Persons Responsible for Compliance are expected to understand the relevant legal and ethical issues relating to the use of animals under the 1986 Act. They are expected to undertake accredited training in the relevant module(s) to provide this understanding.
	Records of training, supervision and competence are required to be kept by the Establishment and are open to inspection.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the implications for the regulatory regime for animal experimentation of the findings of the Animals in Science Committee report into Imperial College, published in July 2014.

Norman Baker: The Animals in Science Committee found no evidence of omission on the part of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit and its inspectors in their oversight of Imperial College London. I welcome and endorse their confidence in the work of inspectors.
	Nevertheless, the ASC report makes several sensible recommendations to support inspectors in achieving improvement in establishments where a pattern of low-level concerns is apparent. The outcome of all the ASC's recommendations should be to drive better practice across all licensed establishments and I intend to ensure these improvements are made. I have fully accepted all the recommendations.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research her Department has conducted or assessed on the level of comprehension among research scientists conducting animal experiments about the terms of animal experimentation licences which they hold.

Norman Baker: Licence applicants are required to undergo formal training prior to obtaining licence which includes a requirement to understand the legislation and detailed information about their roles and responsibilities. Establishments are also required to continue to assess the competency of those holding licences, including their understanding of roles and responsibilities. These records of training, supervision and competence are available for formal inspection.
	As part of the inspection process, Home Office inspectors regularly monitor licence holders’ understanding of their licences.

Animal Experiments

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her Department's publication Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, published on 10 July 2014, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the large number of procedures involving (a) sheep and (b) mice relative to the number of other animals used.

Norman Baker: Mice are the most commonly used species due to long-standing use in research, meaning that there is considerable existing data on the use of this species, their small size makes them convenient laboratory species, and most importantly now is the availability of many genetically altered strains.
	The vast majority of sheep are used for production of blood products, including normal blood and antisera. Their large size and ease of housing and handling make them ideal animals for the large scale production of these products (other species also used for this purpose, but to a much lesser extent, are rabbits, horses and rodents). Repeated blood sampling is often counted as a separate use, hence the large number of re-uses for this species.

Animal Experiments

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the numbers of inspectors in post to monitor animal experiments.

Norman Baker: The Animals in Science Regulation Unit Inspectorate plays a key role in the implementation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
	I am committed to maintaining a strong and properly resourced inspectorate, and a full, risk-based programme of inspections. The relationship between inspectors, licence holders and animal care staff is crucial to the effective implementation of the regulatory framework. I will not jeopardise that relationship.
	In June 2014 I agreed that the current number of inspectors was sufficient to meet the requirements of the 1986 Act following the implementation of European Directive 2010/63/EU. There are three key factors to be achieved from an effective risk-based inspection regime, monitoring compliance, intelligence gathering and an educational role. The Inspectorate implements a risk-based approach to inspection and the effectiveness of the risk-based approach continues to be monitored.
	I commissioned the Animals in Science Committee to provide me with an independent report to consider lessons to be learnt from reviews and investigations into non-compliance stemming from allegations of non-compliance at Imperial College London. The ASC report was published on 2 July 2014 and it found no evidence of omission on the part of the Home Office Inspectorate in their oversight of ICL. I welcome and endorse its confidence in the work of inspectors.

Animal Experiments

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many animals were used in (a) between two and five, (b) between six and 10, (c) between 11 and 15, (d) between 16 and 19 and (e) more than 20 scientific procedures in 2013; and what assessment she has made of the reasons for increases in the number of animals being used in more than one scientific procedure.

Norman Baker: The Home Office does not hold the information asked for, as it does not form part of the regular data collection.
	The Secretary of State must give consent to the re-use of an animal in scientific procedures and specifically authorise the re-use in the project licence. Details of the specific conditions are in Section 5:19 of the Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
	Home Office inspectors will assess all project licence applications and this will include a rigorous harm/benefit analysis to ensure that the likely benefits of the work justify the expected harms that will be experienced by the animals. Work will only be authorised if it is for one of the permissible purposes outlined in section 5.3 (C) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and if the harms have been minimised.
	During the lifetime of the licence the harms and benefits are continually reviewed by the Inspectorate as part of the inspection regime and also by the licence holder and other named officials within the establishment. This is to ensure that harms are always minimised while delivering benefits.
	The majority of re-use is where animals have been subject to mild procedures such as dosing and sampling procedures in the testing of novel treatments, or blood collection for diagnostic purposes or for further laboratory tests not involving the use of live animals.

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what proportion of regulated procedures conducted in Scotland under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013 were carried out for (a) fundamental and applied studies other than toxicity and (b) toxicity tests or other safety and efficacy evaluation;
	(2)  what proportion of procedures regulated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 which were carried out in Scotland was conducted without anaesthesia in 2013;
	(3)  how many (a) genetically-modified animals and (b) animals with a harmful genetic defect were used in regulated procedures conducted in Scotland under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013;
	(4)  how many animals were used in regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Scotland in 2013;
	(5)  how many regulated procedures were carried out under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Scotland in 2013;
	(6)  how many regulated procedures conducted in Scotland under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 involved (a) mice, (b) rats, (c) guinea pigs, (d) hamsters, (e) rabbits, (f) horses and other equids, (g) sheep, (h) pigs, (i) birds, (j) amphibians, (k) reptiles, (l) fish, (m) cats, (n) dogs, (o) New World primates and (p) Old World primates in 2013; and how many such procedures involved (i) genetically modified animals and (ii) animals with harmful genetic defects;
	(7)  what proportion of regulated procedures conducted in Scotland under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013 were performed in (a) public health laboratories, (b) universities and medical schools, (c) NHS hospitals, (d) government departments, (e) other public bodies, (f) non-profit making organisations and (g) commercial organisations.

Norman Baker: During 2013 in Scotland, regarding the proportion of regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA):
	(a) 90% (568,135) were carried out for fundamental and applied studies other than toxicity
	(b) 10% (63,273) were carried out for toxicity tests or other safety and efficacy evaluation
	During 2013 in Scotland, 62.2% (392,894) of regulated procedures under ASPA were undertaken without anaesthesia.
	In 2013 in Scotland, regarding the number of animals used in regulated procedures under ASPA:
	(a) 335,116 genetically modified animals were used
	(b) 21,435 animals with a harmful genetic defect were used
	During 2013 in Scotland, 619,798 animals were used in regulated procedures under ASPA.
	During 2013 in Scotland, 631,408 regulated procedures under ASPA were conducted.
	During 2013 in Scotland, regarding the number of regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA):
	(a) 406,502 involved mice, of which:
	(i) 272,311 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) 18,467 involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(b) 29,693 involved rats, of which:
	(i) 1,659 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) 1,034 involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(c) 1,390 involved guinea pigs, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(d) 663 involved hamsters, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(e) 3,701 involved rabbits, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(f) 1,887 involved horses and other equids, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(g) 6,873 involved sheep, of which:
	(i) 6 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(h) 597 involved pigs, of which:
	(i) 11 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(i) 17,224 involved birds, of which:
	(i) 585 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) 306 involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(j) 937 involved amphibians, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(k) none involved reptiles
	(l) 157,871 involved fish, of which:
	(i) 61,950 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) 1,628 involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(m) 11 involved cats, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(n) 936 involved dogs, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(o) none involved new world primates
	(p) 702 involved old world primates, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	During 2013 in Scotland, regarding the proportion of regulated procedures under ASPA in different types of designated establishment:
	(a) none was performed in public health laboratories
	(b) 79.6% (502,460) were performed in universities and medical schools
	(c) none was performed in NHS hospitals
	(d) 2.4% (14,822) were performed in Government Departments
	(e) 9% (57,018) were performed in other public bodies
	(f) none were performed in non-profit making organisations
	(g) 9% (57,108) were performed in commercial organisations

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Scotland in 2013; and how many such licences were in force at the end of 2013 in respect of work to be carried out in Scotland.

Norman Baker: The number of project licences granted, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Scotland in 2013 was 107. The numbers of project licences in force in Scotland at the end of 2013 was 441.

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Scotland was in the (a) mild, (b) moderate, (c) substantial and (d) unclassified severity banding at the end of 2013.

Norman Baker: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, was amended following the transposition of European Directive 2010/63EU, which came into force on 1 January 2013. Project licences are no longer accorded a severity banding and accordingly it is not possible to provide the information required as it is no longer collected.

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places in Scotland were designated as a (a) supplying establishment, (b) breeding establishment and (c) scientific procedure establishment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 at the end of 2013.

Norman Baker: The total number of establishment licences, provided under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, in force in Scotland at the end of 2013 was 27. All 27 establishments were licensed to apply regulated procedures to protected animals. Eight of the 27 establishments were licensed for the keeping of protected animals for supply elsewhere and 14 were licensed for the breeding of protected animals. Some establishments are users, breeders and suppliers.

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many infringements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were recorded in Scotland in 2013; and how many such infringements led to a prosecution.

James Brokenshire: There were two cases of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 recorded in Scotland in 2013. Neither led to a prosecution.

Animal Experiments: Scotland

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) mice, (b) rats, (c) guinea pigs, (d) hamsters, (e) rabbits, (f) horses and other equids, (g) sheep, (h) pigs, (i) birds, (j) amphibians, (k) reptiles, (l) fish, (m) cats, (n) dogs, (o) New World primates and (p) Old World primates were used in regulated procedures conducted in Scotland under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013.

Norman Baker: In 2013 in Scotland, regarding the number of animals used in regulated procedures conducted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986:
	(a) 404,777 mice
	(b) 29,693 rats
	(c) 1,390 guinea pigs
	(d) 663 hamsters
	(e) 1,764 rabbits
	(f) 45 horses and other equids
	(g) 3,694 sheep
	(h) 587 pigs
	(i) 17,173 birds
	(j) 69 amphibians
	(k) No reptiles
	(l) 156,692 fish
	(m) 11 cats
	(n) 833 dogs
	(o) No new world primates
	(p) 638 old world primates

Animal Experiments: Wales

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many infringements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were recorded in Wales in 2013; and how many such infringements led to a prosecution.

Norman Baker: There were no cases of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 recorded in Wales in 2013.

Animal Experiments: Wales

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many regulated procedures conducted in Wales under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 involved (a) mice, (b) rats, (c) guinea pigs, (d) hamsters, (e) rabbits, (f) horses and other equids, (g) sheep, (h) pigs, (i) birds, (j) amphibians, (k) reptiles, (l) fish, (m) cats, (n) dogs, (o) New World primates and (p) Old World primates in 2013; and how many such procedures involved (i) genetically modified animals and (ii) animals with harmful genetic defects;
	(2)  what proportion of regulated procedures conducted in Wales under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013 were performed in (a) public health laboratories, (b) universities and medical schools, (c) NHS hospitals, (d) government departments, (e) other public bodies, (f) non-profit making organisations and (g) commercial organisations;
	(3)  what proportion of regulated procedures conducted in Wales under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013 were carried out for (a) fundamental and applied studies other than toxicity and (b) toxicity tests or other safety and efficacy evaluation;
	(4)  how many (a) genetically-modified animals and (b) animals with a harmful genetic defect were used in regulated procedures conducted in Wales under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2013;
	(5)  what proportion of procedures regulated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which were carried out in Wales, was conducted without anaesthesia in 2013;
	(6)  how many animals were used in regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Wales in 2013;
	(7)  how many regulated procedures were carried out under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Wales in 2013.

Norman Baker: During 2013 in Wales, regarding the number of regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA):
	(a) 36,010 involved mice, of which:
	(i) 18,886 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) 7,206 involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(b) 3,345 involved rats, of which:
	(i) 10 involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(c) 24 involved guinea pigs, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(d) none involved hamsters
	(e) three involved rabbits, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(f) none involved horses and other equids
	(g) 396 involved sheep, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(h) none involved pigs
	(i) 643 involved birds, of which
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(j) 165 involved amphibians, of which
	(i) nine involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(k) none involved reptiles
	(l) 11,927 involved fish, of which:
	(i) none involved genetically-modified animals
	(ii) none involved animals with a harmful genetic defect
	(m) none involved cats
	(n) none involved dogs
	(o) none involved new world primates
	(p) none involved old world primates
	During 2013 in Wales, regarding the proportion of regulated procedures under ASPA in different types of designated establishment:
	(a) 2.8% (1,462) were performed in public health laboratories
	(b) 96.7% (50,826) were performed in universities and medical schools
	(c) none were performed in NHS hospitals
	(d) none were performed in Government Departments
	(e) none were performed in other public bodies
	(f) none were performed in non-profit making organisations
	(g) 0.5% (251) were performed in commercial organisations
	During 2013 in Wales, regarding the proportion of regulated procedures under ASPA:
	(a) all (52,539) were carried out for fundamental and applied studies other than toxicity.
	(b) none were carried out for toxicity tests or other safety and efficacy evaluation.
	In 2013 in Wales, regarding the number of animals used in regulated procedures under ASPA:
	(a) 18,707 genetically modified animals were used
	(b) 7,206 animals with a harmful genetic defect were used
	During 2013 in Wales, 59.3% (31,202) of regulated procedures under ASPA were undertaken without anaesthesia.
	During 2013 in Wales, 51,576 animals were used in regulated procedures under ASPA.
	During 2013 in Wales, 52,539 regulated procedures under ASPA were conducted.

Animal Experiments: Wales

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Wales was in the (a) mild, (b) moderate, (c) substantial and (d) unclassified severity banding at the end of 2013.

Norman Baker: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, was amended following the transposition of European Directive 2010/63EU, which came into force on 1 January 2013. Project licences are no longer accorded a severity banding and accordingly it is not possible to provide the information required as it is no longer collected.

Animal Experiments: Wales

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Wales in 2013; and how many such licences were in force at the end of 2013 in respect of work to be carried out in Wales.

Norman Baker: The number of project licences granted, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, in Wales in 2013 was 18. The numbers of project licences in force in Wales at the end of 2013 was 65.

Animal Experiments: Wales

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places in Wales were designated as a (a) supplying establishment, (b) breeding establishment and (c) scientific procedure establishment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 at the end of 2013.

Norman Baker: The total number of establishment licences, provided under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, in force in Wales at the end of 2013 was six. All six establishments were licensed to apply regulated procedures to protected animals. One of the six establishments was also licensed for the keeping of protected animals for supply elsewhere. Three of the six establishments were also licensed for the breeding of protected animals.

Armed Forces: Arrests

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what process the civilian police must follow when attempting to arrest, summons or charge a serving member of the armed forces in connection with indictable offences.

Michael Penning: If a member of the UK armed forces is arrested and detained in police custody for a recordable offence, the custody sergeant is responsible for notifying the circumstances of arrest, detention and offence to the relevant service authorities.
	Civilian criminal courts and service tribunals have concurrent jurisdiction to deal with accused persons who are subject to military law. The decision on which jurisdiction prosecutes a person subject to military law is a matter of consultation between all police agencies involved in the investigation in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service and Service Prosecutions Authority.

Armed Forces: Arrests

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many serving military personnel have been arrested and charged with indictable offences by civilian police forces in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not collected centrally by the Home Office. Aggregated data on arrests supplied to the Home Office do not include information about whether persons arrested were serving military personnel.

Asylum

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers had been waiting for an initial decision on their asylum application for more than one year at the end of (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

James Brokenshire: At the end of December 2011, 1,897 asylum applications from main applicants were pending an initial decision after 12 months, 2,561 at the end of December 2012 and 3,773 at the end of December 2013.
	The figures provided are a subset of latest published statistics for applications received for asylum since April 2006 which are published by the Home Office on a monthly and quarterly basis.
	The latest release Immigration Statistics January to March 2014 is available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2014
	and from the Library of the House. Asylum data tables (volume 1) are available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/311790/asylum1-q1-2014-tabs.ods
	Our aim this year is to ensure all claims made before April 2014 have an asylum decision by 31 March 2015. Furthermore, we are endeavouring to ensure all new claims received since 1 April 2014 get a decision within the six months service standard.
	We are raising our decision-maker productivity targets in order to deal with rising intake, and we are continually recruiting new caseworkers to maintain appropriate staffing levels and to support our aim to get within service standards by the end of the 2014-15 period.

Asylum

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who used the Assisted Voluntary Returns scheme (a) submitted their first asylum claim after being detained in an immigration removal and (b) had their asylum case decided within the Detained Fast Track in each of the last five years for which records are available.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols; as such it should be treated as provisional and subject to change.
	
		
			 Number 
			  People who have claimed asylum after detention in an Immigration Removal Centre and subsequently exited using the Assisted Voluntary Return scheme Claimants that have used the Assisted Voluntary Return scheme, while in the Detained Fast Track process 
			 2009 3 37 
			 2010 19 230 
			 2011 39 534 
			 2012 74 569 
			 2013 39 1,234 
			 20141 5 350 
			    
		
	
	
		
			 Total 179 2,954 
			 1 2014 is up to and including 31 March 2014.

Asylum: Detainees

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the outcomes of detention by length of detention for women asylum seekers detained by her Department were in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: Published figures on people detained in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers include those held in short term holding facilities, pre-departure accommodation and immigration removal centres. Figures exclude those held in police cells, Prison Service establishments, short term holding rooms at ports and airports (for less than 24 hours), and those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers and their dependants. The following table shows the number of female detainees who had claimed asylum at some point, by reason for leaving detention and by length of detention for each of the last three years.
	The Home Office publishes quarterly and annual statistics on the number of people detained in the United Kingdom for immigration purposes, within Immigration Statistics: January to March 2014, from the GOV.UK website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
	
		
			 Female asylum detainees leaving detention by reason and length of detention, 2011 - 2013 
			  Length of detention Total detainees Removed from the UK Granted leave to enter/remain Granted temporary admission/release Bailed Other 
			 2011 Total 1,675 714 4 834 108 15 
			 2011 A: 3 days or less 219 67 1 141 2 8 
			 2011 B: 4 to 7 days 216 80 2 134 0 0 
			 2011 C: 8 to 14 days 248 76 0 154 17 1 
			 2011 D: 15 to 28 days 277 84 1 169 22 1 
			 2011 E: 29 days to less than 2 months 347 172 0 132 41 2 
			 2011 F: 2 months to less than 3 months 161 104 0 49 8 0 
			 2011 G: 3 months to less than 4 months 73 49 0 17 6 1 
			 2011 H: 4 months to less than 6 months 79 54 0 22 2 1 
			 2011 I: 6 months to less than 12 months 46 24 0 15 6 1 
			 2011 J: 12 months to less than 18 months 4 3 0 1 0 0 
			 2011 K: 18 months to less than 24 months 3 0 0 0 3 0 
			 2011 L: 24 months to less than 36 months 1 0 0 0 1 0 
			 2011 M: 36 months to less than 48 months 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			 2011 N: 48 months or more 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			         
			 2012 Total 1,867 674 5 1,058 127 3 
		
	
	
		
			 2012 A: 3 days or less 333 88 2 241 0 2 
			 2012 B: 4 to 7 days 274 66 0 206 2 0 
			 2012 C: 8 to 14 days 250 68 2 165 14 1 
			 2012 D: 15 to 28 days 275 83 1 158 33 0 
			 2012 E: 29 days to less than 2 months 381 166 0 165 50 0 
			 2012 F: 2 months to less than 3 months 164 103 0 47 14 0 
			 2012 G: 3 months to less than 4 months 77 38 0 33 6 0 
			 2012 H: 4 months to less than 6 months 67 37 0 26 4 0 
			 2012 I: 6 months to less than 12 months 37 18 0 17 2 0 
			 2012 J: 12 months to less than 18 months 6 4 0 0 2 0 
			 2012 K: 18 months to less than 24 months 1 1 0 0 0 0 
			 2012 L: 24 months to less than 36 months 2 2 0 0 0 0 
			 2012 M: 36 months to less than 48 months 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2012 N: 48 months or more 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			         
			 2013 Total 2,012 632 23 1,245 93 19 
			 2013 A: 3 days or less 353 53 2 289 1 8 
			 2013 B: 4 to 7 days 292 42 0 248 1 1 
			 2013 C: 8 to 14 days 219 43 6 158 11 1 
			 2013 D: 15 to 28 days 291 46 5 211 22 7 
			 2013 E: 29 days to less than 2 months 430 184 9 205 31 1 
			 2013 F: 2 months to less than 3 months 214 138 1 68 7 0 
			 2013 G: 3 months to less than 4 months 99 64 0 26 9 0 
			 2013 H: 4 months to less than 6 months 75 46 0 23 6 0 
			 2013 I: 6 months to less than 12 months 34 16 0 14 3 1 
			 2013 J: 12 months to less than 18 months 3 0 0 1 2 0 
			 2013 K: 18 months to less than 24 months 1 0 0 1 0 0 
			 2013 L: 24 months to less than 36 months 1 0 0 1 0 0 
			 2013 M: 36 months to less than 48 months 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2013 N: 48 months or more 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Notes: 1. Data from Q1 2012 onwards are provisional. 2. Asylum detainees: People detained solely under Immigration Act powers who are recorded as having sought asylum at some stage and may under record due to instances of detainees claiming asylum after the data extract date. 3. Length of detention definitions: 2 months, 61 days; 3 months, 91 days; 4 months, 122 days; 6 months, 182 days; 18 months, 547 days.

Asylum: Housing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) budgeted and (b) actual per place unit cost estimated by her Department is for the COMPASS asylum housing contracts allocated to (i) G4S and (ii) Serco for the period of the contract.

James Brokenshire: The budgeted cost of COMPASS contracts was determined using actual per place unit costs derived through the competitive procurement process. The actual per place unit rates are commercially sensitive. Disclosure will prejudice the commercial interests of the Department and its suppliers.

Asylum: Housing

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received from local authorities within Compass asylum contract areas on the (a) suitability of accommodation for asylum seekers provided by Compass, (b) overcrowding in that accommodation, (c) the need for local authorities to be notified when asylum seekers became resident there and (d) additional services required from local authorities when large numbers of asylum seekers move to an area.

James Brokenshire: COMPASS accommodation providers must abide by specific standards, including rules on shared dwellings. The Home Office monitors the performance of the providers against quality and safety standards to ensure the suitability of accommodation provided for asylum seekers and works with providers to improve these where necessary. Poor performance by the providers can also have financial ramifications if they are found to be non-compliant. The Home Office has established working arrangements with all local authorities to consider the placement of asylum seekers in each area to ensure minimal impact on services and community cohesion. Local authorities are notified of all asylum seekers moving into their area, and they have an obligation to perform a duty of care for all their residents regarding health, social services and schooling for minors. In addition Home Office has appointed three service delivery managers (SDM) to work in partnership with the COMPASS providers and external stakeholders, principally local authorities. The role of the SDM is to arbitrate in difficulties between providers and local authorities.

Billing

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value is of duplicate supplier payments identified by her Department since 2010; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered in each of the last two financial years.

Karen Bradley: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	The volume and value of duplicate supplier payments identified since the 2010-11 financial year up to June 2014 is 54 payments for a total value of £2,495,793.63. We have recovered 53 payments totalling £2,494,661.63; the remaining payment was partially recovered and the company went into liquidation with the balance outstanding.
	In the last two financial years the proportion of duplicate payments recovered by value was:
	
		
			  Percentage 
			 2013-14 100 
			 2012-13 199.53 
			 1 Amount outstanding is for a company that went into liquidation after partial payment. 
		
	
	The volume and value of duplicate payments since 2010 have decreased significantly compared to the financial years prior to 2010-11.
	
		
			  Duplicate payments Recovered Recovered percentage  
			 Financial year Volume Value (£) Volume Value (£) Volume Value Outstanding amount (£) 
			 2014-151 3 17,782.42 3 17,782.42 100.00 100.00 0.00 
			 2013-14 2 3,388.25 2 3,388.25 100.00 100.00 0.00 
			 2012-13 13 242,854.79 12 241,722.79 92.31 99.53 1,132.00 
			 2011-12 11 1,512,091.68 11 1,512,091.68 100.00 100.00 0.00 
			 2010-11 25 719,676.49 25 719,676.49 100.00 100.00 0.00 
			         
			 Total 54 2,495,793.63 53 2,494,661.63   1,132.00 
			 1 Up to June 2014. Note: Value outstanding is a partial payment. The company have gone into liquidation with this amount outstanding.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will review her departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: By September 2014 following relocation of the Department for Communities and Local Government to 2 Marsham Street the size of the non-operational administrative estate occupied by the Department will have reduced by 22% to 315,000 sq m since May 2010. Annual savings will be in excess of £50 million.
	Further information on the performance of the Government's Civil Estate can be found at
	http://www.gist.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/qds/2012-13/ho/spend-by-type-of-internal-operation/cost-of-running-the-estate/

Child Abuse in Cleveland Judicial Inquiry

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where in the public domain the Northern Regional Health Authority report of October 1988 entitled, Action Taken Following the Report of the Judicial Inquiry into Child Abuse in Cleveland may be found; if she will place a copy of this document in the Library; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The information requested relates to a former national health service organisation. The Department of Health has confirmed that this information is not available.

Children: Abuse

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will publish (a) all submissions and memos to Ministers and (b) correspondence with other government departments relating to the review by officials of the Geoffrey Dickens dossiers.

Norman Baker: The Home Secretary has appointed Peter Wanless-the Chief Executive of NSPCC, and Richard Whittam QC to undertake a review of the investigation commissioned by the Permanent Secretary in response to allegations raised about the handling of information from Geoffrey Dickens by the Home Office. Terms of reference of this review were placed in the House Library on 7 July and make clear that the review will consider the information that was available to the investigator, as well as any further information they feel is relevant. We expect that they will report in 8-10 weeks and will publish this report in full.

Children: Abuse

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she had with the Scottish Government on the Butler-Sloss inquiry into child abuse.

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will include Kincora Boys Home in East Belfast in the scope of the Butler-Sloss child abuse inquiry.

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Butler-Sloss Inquiry into child abuse will have scope to include public bodies and non-state institutions based in Northern Ireland.

Norman Baker: On 7 July the Home Secretary announced an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. The inquiry will consider whether public bodies-and other non-state institutions-have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. The Inquiry will co-operate fully with Devolved Administrations. However all relevant issues in Scotland and Northern Ireland are now devolved and will be a matter for those administrations to consider. In Wales the inquiry will cover those institutions which concern non-devolved matters. The Home Secretary has made clear that the Home Office will talk to the Devolved Administrations and work with them on this Inquiry.

Children: Abuse

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any files on child abuse have been passed to her Department by (a) other parts of the Government or (b) hon. Members; and in what year such files were so passed.

Norman Baker: The Independent investigation commissioned by the Permanent Secretary considered what material this Department had received in respect of child sexual abuse. Copies of the Executive Summary of that review and the Terms of Reference were deposited in the House Library on 31 July 2013. On 7 July the Home Secretary announced that Peter Wanless would lead a review into this investigation. Terms of Reference for this review have been placed in the House and we expect the work to conclude within eight to 10 weeks. Any files passed to the Home Office, whether by hon. Members or otherwise, which suggest criminal activity has occurred, are passed to the police.

Children: Abuse

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if she will ensure that the review by Peter Wanless will include any actions or discussions of government departments other than the Home Office in respect of the handling of the Geoffrey Dickens files;
	(2)  whether her Department holds any information indicating that the Geoffrey Dickens files were shared with or seen by any other government department.

Norman Baker: The Permanent Secretary commissioned an Independent Investigation to determine what material the Department had received in respect of child sexual abuse, including any from Geoffrey Dickens. Copies of the Executive Summary of that review and the Terms of Reference were deposited in the House Library on 31 July 2013. On 7 July the Home Secretary announced that Peter Wanless would lead a review into this investigation under the Terms of Reference that have been agreed, a copy of which is available in the House Library. The review is expected to conclude within 8-10 weeks and a full report of the review report will be published.

Clothing: Islam

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the wearing of (a) the niqab and (b) the burka by individuals during any official interaction with (i) police officers and (ii) immigration officers.

Michael Penning: The information is as follows:
	(i) Police officers must observe the requirements of the Codes of Practice under the Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 governing the removal of headgear. A copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
	(ii) All passengers wearing a veil or face covering on arrival in the United Kingdom will be asked to remove their veil so that their appearance can be compared with the photograph in their passport, in order that the Border Force officer can be satisfied as to their identity and nationality.

Common Travel Area: Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with their Irish counterparts on the Common Travel Area since May 2010.

James Brokenshire: Home Office Ministers and officials have regular discussions with their Irish counterparts on a range of subjects, including the Common Travel Area.

Community Relations: Islam

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of levels of trust held by the British Muslim community in the Prevent strategy.

James Brokenshire: Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The revised Prevent strategy published in June 2011 has three key objectives. These are to:
	respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it;
	prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and
	work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation which we need to address.
	The delivery of Prevent requires strong partnerships with a range of local groups in the community, including British Muslims among others.
	The Prevent strategy we inherited from the last Government was flawed. It confused the delivery of Government policy to promote integration with Government policy to prevent terrorism, which was a source of mistrust. That is why we refocused the Prevent strategy in 2011, to separate Prevent from broader integration work.
	Local Prevent co-ordinators across the country work with local services, partners such as the police, Charity Commission and members of local faith communities, to understand local risks and needs, and deliver targeted projects and outreach work. We fund 30 Prevent priority areas to work on the frontline and with those vulnerable to extremism, including funding projects tailored to local needs. Prevent co-ordinators provide regular feedback to the Home Office, which helps shape the future development and implementation of the Prevent strategy.
	Preventing terrorism means challenging extremist (and non-violent) ideas that are also part of a terrorist ideology. The Prevent strategy focuses on all forms of terrorism, but is clear that the most serious risk to our national security comes from al-Qaeda, its affiliates and like-minded organisations. For this reason, the report of the Prime Minister’s Extremism Task Force (ETF), published last December, set out a definition of Islamist extremism. It noted that this ideology should not be confused with traditional religious practice. It is based on a distorted interpretation of Islam, which betrays Islam’s peaceful principles and also includes the uncompromising belief that people cannot be Muslim and British, and insists that those who do not agree with them are not true Muslims.

Crime: Lancashire

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of crime in (a) Preston constituency, (b) Preston City Council area and (c) Lancashire in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: The Home Office does not collect data at Parliamentary Constituency Level or at City Council level. Data are provided in Table A for Preston Community Safety Partnership and Lancashire police force area.
	
		
			 Table A-Police recorded crime (excluding fraud) in Preston Local Authority and Lancashire police force area, 2009/10 to 2013/14 
			 Numbers 
			  Year 
			 Area 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 
			 Preston Local Authority 13,485 12,867 11,044 11,161 11,310 
			 Lancashire Police 105,920 101,074 97,696 92,357 95,372 
			 1. Source-Police recorded crime, Home Office 2. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics. 3. Action Fraud have taken over the recording of fraud offences on behalf of individual police forces. This process began in April 2011 and was rolled out to all police forces by March 2013. To enable comparison of data across the five year period, fraud data have been excluded.

Cultural Heritage: Theft

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will hold discussions with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on a global response to the sale of stolen antiquities to fund terrorism.

Norman Baker: The UK takes the funding of terrorist organisations through any means very seriously. This Government endorsed guidelines on countering trafficking in cultural property and related offences at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session in May 2014.

Disclosure and Barring Service

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual salary is of the Chief Executive of the Disclosure and Barring Service; what element of that salary is performance-related; and what assessment she has made of the performance of the management team at the disclosure and barring service in the last three years.

Karen Bradley: holding answer 17 July 2014
	: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was launched in December 2012. The annual salary of the chief executive is £124,230, which is not performance-related. Performance of the management team is a matter for the DBS board. Operational performance is considered by Ministers on a regular basis.

DNA: Databases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to access DNA databases from other European countries to aid with crime detection in the UK.

James Brokenshire: It is possible for police forces to request checks to be made via Interpol of the DNA databases of other European countries. Routine access to European Union databases would require the UK to implement the Prüm Council Decisions 2008/615/JHA and 2008/616/JHA.
	The Home Secretary outlined the Government's position on Prüm in the House of Commons on 10 July 2014, Official Report, column 492.

Dogs: Noise

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department grants permission to laboratories to cut the vocal cords of dogs in order to reduce noise.

Norman Baker: The Home Office would not authorise the cutting of vocal cords of dogs under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. We cannot envisage any scenario where that would be acceptable unless it were for the health and well-being of the individual animal with the procedure conducted under Veterinary Surgeons Act.

Electronic Surveillance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she authorised the UK's classification of (a) Google, (b) Facebook, (c) webmail services and (d) other companies that operate in the UK as external communications.

James Brokenshire: External Communication is defined within the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and the statutory Interception of Communications Code of Practice which was approved by Parliament and came into force on 1 July 2002. The Government has no present plans to amend the definition of external communication.
	Under RIPA, interception warrants are issued by the Secretary of State.

Electronic Surveillance

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to change (a) the classification of external communications for the purposes of interception and (b) other aspects of UK surveillance law.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 23 June 2014
	External Communication is defined within the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and the statutory Interception of Communications Code of Practice which was approved by Parliament and came into force on 1 July 2002. The Government has no present plans to amend the definition of external communication.

Entry Clearances

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa applications are presently deferred or on hold awaiting the outcome of the legal action in respect of the financial requirement that is presently before the courts.

James Brokenshire: According to Home Office management information, as at 31 March 2014, 3,134 family visa applications were on hold following the July 2013 High Court judgment in MM & Others. Following the Court of Appeal ruling in favour of the Home Secretary which confirmed the lawfulness of the income threshold policy, as a rational and reasonable means of achieving the legitimate aims of reducing taxpayer burdens and promoting integration, from 28 July, the individuals whose applications were on hold, pending this judgment, will now receive a decision. Decisions will take account of all the information presented. Any application which met all the requirements apart from the minimum income threshold now stands to be refused. The applications which have been subject to the hold will be decided as soon as possible. It is likely to take several weeks to complete this work. Overseas our regions are rebalancing resources to ensure decisions are made as quickly as they reasonably can be, allowing full consideration of the facts of the cases. This is with the aim of resolving all applications within three months in line with service standards for settlement applications.

Entry Clearances

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent by her Department on legal representation and court costs in respect of action over the financial requirement.

James Brokenshire: In the case of MM & Others concerning the minimum income threshold under the family Immigration Rules, the costs incurred by the Home Office as at 3 July 2014 were approximately £163,000.

Entry Clearances

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to introduce service standards and set processing time limits for visa applications made at overseas posts.

James Brokenshire: Service Standards are in place for the processing of visa applications submitted overseas.

Entry Clearances: Indian Subcontinent

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken was from a visa appeal being granted at tribunal to the post issuing the visa in (a) Mumbai and (b) Islamabad in the most recent period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: From 1 January to 31 March 2014, it took on average 34 days in Mumbai and 31 days in Islamabad to issue a visa after the tribunal decision was received in the respective post.

Entry Clearances: Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress she has made on the detailed implementation of the proposed British-Irish visa scheme.

James Brokenshire: On 16 June 2014 the Home Secretary announced the introduction of the British-Irish visa scheme. From autumn 2014, Chinese and Indian nationals with a visit visa issued in China and India respectively will be able to use an Irish visa to travel to the UK and a British visa to travel to Ireland without the need for a separate visa. This is underpinned by a range of detailed implementation activity.

Entry Clearances: Ireland

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) primary and (b) secondary legislative provision is required for the implementation of the proposed British-Irish visa scheme; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: No changes to primary legislation are required. Amendments will be made to the Immigration (Control of Entry through Republic of Ireland) Order 1972.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within her Department's responsibility.

Karen Bradley: Since May 2010 the UK has not lost any EU infraction proceedings which relate to matters that fall within the Home Office's responsibility.

Euthanasia

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to routinely refuse visas to foreign nationals who enter the UK with the aim of encouraging or assisting suicide.

James Brokenshire: A foreign national may be refused entry clearance or leave to enter the UK if, from information available, the person’s exclusion is considered to be conducive to the public good. This could include information indicating that the person may be intending to commit an offence while in the UK. Each decision is made on a case by case basis taking into account all the relevant factors.

Euthanasia

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports she has received on the time taken for the Metropolitan Police to act in the case of a foreign national conducting a seminar which is alleged to have encouraged assistance with suicide in London, June 2013; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the case is now properly investigated.

Michael Penning: No such reports have been received. The investigation of criminal offences is an operational matter for the police. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Government to interfere in police investigations.

Female Genital Mutilation

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received from Sussex police on enforcement of laws preventing female genital mutilation; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: Female genital mutilation is an extremely harmful practice which the coalition Government is committed to tackling. Neither the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), nor I have received any representations from Sussex police on enforcement of laws preventing female genital mutilation.

HM Passport Office

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many enquiries HM Passport Office has received from hon. Members in each of the previous 18 months.

James Brokenshire: In 2013, Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) received 1,123 written inquiries from Members of both Houses and 813 telephone enquiries via the 'MP's hotline' service. In the first six months of 2014, HMPO has received 1,394 written enquiries and 13, 906 telephone inquiries.

HM Passport Office

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the amount to be paid in additional payments to staff at HM Passport Office who committed to work a set number of overtime hours between 5 July and 31 August 2014.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 21 July 2014
	Overtime is a matter of choice for each member of staff. The determination of those who qualify for the additional payment and therefore the cost of additional payments will be on the basis of the actual overtime hours worked during the period 5 July and 31 August 2014.

Human Trafficking

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take additional steps to tackle human trafficking within the UK’s borders.

Karen Bradley: This Government is determined to stamp out all forms of modern slavery and human trafficking, regardless of whether these crimes have involved cross-border movement. The Modern Slavery Bill will give law enforcement the tools to tackle modern slavery and enhance support and protection for victims. The Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive are both bringing forward their own legislation to tackle this terrible crime and we are working with them closely to ensure a coordinated approach across the UK. We are also undertaking a comprehensive programme of activity which includes awareness-raising for front-line professionals, to ensure that they can spot the signs of modern slavery, including human trafficking, and know what to do.

Illegal Immigrants: Employment

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the reasons for the reduction in businesses fined for employing illegal immigrants since 2010.

James Brokenshire: Since 2010 there has been a 13% increase in the number of civil penalties issued to businesses employing illegal migrant workers with 2,149 penalties issued in 2013-14 compared with 1,899 in 2010-11.An assessment of enforcement activity and operating procedures in relation to illegal working visits led to increased deployment and a renewed focus on illegal working in 2013. This resulted in 8,573 illegal working visits in 2013-14 compared with 5,441 in 2012-13. Additionally the target of issuing 2,500 Notices of Potential Liability (NOPL) for a civil penalty was exceeded with 3,562 NOPLs being issued in 2013-14 compared with 1,659 in 2012-13 equating to a 70% increase. We are committed to tackling illegal working and we are increasing our multi-agency operations to step up enforcement action against businesses. Through the Immigration Act and secondary legislations, we are getting tougher with non-compliant employers by increasing the maximum financial penalty from £10,000 to £20,000 per illegal worker; making it easier to enforce payment in the civil courts; and simplifying right-to-work checks for legitimate employers.

Immigrants: Detainees

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of detainees who have escaped from detention or from escort in each of the last four years have been returned to detention.

James Brokenshire: The proportion of detainees who have escaped from detention or from escort in each of the last four years who have been returned to detention is 37% (7) of 19 detainees. One detainee was not returned to detention but located overseas. Major changes to the estate since 2010 have included the closure of the lower security site at Oakington Reception Centre in November 2010 and increased capacity at the higher security centre at Harmondsworth in July 2010. The management information above has been reached by the examination of individual records. It does not form part of published statistics and is not subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications. It is provisional and subject to change.

Immigrants: Detainees

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places are currently available for immigration detainees; how many such places are currently occupied; what assessment she has made of the effect of fraud in English language tests on the number of immigration detainee places needed; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: As of August 2014, the Home Office has the capacity to detain 3690 immigration detainees in the immigration detention estate. On 18 August 2014, 2941 of the 3690 spaces were occupied.
	In addition to this Home Office Immigration Enforcement and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which provides for immigration detainees to be held in prisons. As of the week beginning 18 August 2014 794 immigration detainees were held in prison, of which 214 were held in HMP Verne.
	Capacity and use of the detention estate is reviewed regularly at a strategic level to allow Immigration Enforcement to plan operational activity. The Educational Testing Services operations followed this process, which included the use of detention alongside other activity to address any abuse or criminality.
	As stated to the House on 24 June, the Home Office will provide regular updates to the House on the ETS-related activity. These updates will be provided as part of the regular publication of data on the department’s work on borders and immigration.

Immigration: Appeals

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions a Home Office immigration refusal decision was withdrawn by the Home Office on or immediately prior to an appeal hearing date in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum chamber) in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date.

James Brokenshire: A complete set of data relating to decisions withdrawn by the Home Office on or immediately prior to the appeal hearing date in the First-tier Tribunal for all appeal types is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Immigration: Disclosure of Information

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to reduce the effect of data breaches of sensitive immigration information on people whose details have been accidentally published online.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office takes data breaches of any type extremely seriously and they will be subject to our established procedure for managing data-related incidents. This entails a detailed risk-assessment exercise to determine the impact on the data subject together with actions designed to reduce the level of exposure wherever it is practical to do so.
	Subject to the outcome of the risk assessment the Department may choose to inform the data subjects and the primary factor in this decision is the personal safety and security of those concerned. Regardless of whether the decision is taken to inform data subjects or not, every effort is made to remove the material in question from all platforms visible to the public.

Immigration: Kenya

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Joshua Kulei of Kenya has ever been banned from entering the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases. This is because the Home Office has obligations in law to protect this information.
	I can confirm that any visa application from Mr Kulei would be considered on its individual merits and in accordance with the Immigration Rules.

Islam: Marriage

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with (a) ministerial colleagues in the Ministry of Justice, (b) the Muslim Institute, (c) the Muslim Council of Great Britain and (d) the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain on the legal status of Islamic marriages in England and Wales.

James Brokenshire: Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and operational delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Cabinet Office website, which is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-mnisters-hospitality-data
	There are no plans to change the law to recognise in English law Muslim marriages and divorces which do not conform to the Marriage Act 1949.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels her Department funds.

Karen Bradley: The information is as follows.
	(a) The Library Service subscribe to 117 journals using the SwetsWise pan-government contract. This is the only centrally held information on journal or magazine subscriptions.
	(b) The Home Office pays for a monthly rental for Parliament TV Services in Millbank. This TV services carries live and archived coverage of all UK Parliament proceedings taking place in public, including debates and committee meetings of both Houses. The monthly amount for line rental is £1275.00 and the yearly amount for TV provision and maintenance is £1880.96 all figures excl VAT.
	In addition, there are Sky boxes in 2 Marsham Street which only transmit free to air channels (so no subscription) such as Sky News, BBC News, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, France 24, BBC1,2, ITV, CH4, CH5 etc. Again, these channels are distributed to TVs within the building.

Members: Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a reply will be sent to the hon. Member for Harrow West's letter of 15 July 2014 regarding Mr and Mrs Patil of Harrow; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 22 July 2014
	A response was sent by Her Majesty's Passport Office on 21 July 2014.

Members: Correspondence

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to respond to the recent letter from the hon. Member for Wigan on the remit of the inquiry into child abuse recently announced by her Department.

Norman Baker: Work continues to identify and appoint a suitable chairman for the inquiry. It is important that the chairman has the right blend of experience, expertise and authority to lead the Inquiry. Terms of reference for the Inquiry will be agreed with the chairman and panel, when appointed. A formal reply to the letter in question will be sent as soon as possible.

Mental Illness: Homicide

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were murdered by people classified as severely mentally ill in each of the last 15 years.

Norman Baker: The Home Office Homicide Index collects information on whether the homicide was linked to the mental state of the suspect but does not contain information on whether the suspect was ‘severely’ mentally ill. Information on whether the homicide was linked to the mental state of the suspect for 2007-08 onwards (the first year these data were collected) is given in the following table.
	
		
			 Table 1: Offences currently recorded as homicide1 by mental health of principal suspect, 2007-08 to 2012-13, England and Wales 
			 Number 
			  2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Homicide linked to mental state of suspect2       
			 Yes 68 70 60 97 61 65 
			 No 554 481 477 480 424 434 
			 Unknown 111 89 59 57 45 52 
			        
			 Total offences currently recorded as homicide1 733 640 596 634 530 551 
			 1 As at 8 November 2013; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. 2 Including cases where there is no suspect. Source: Homicide Index, Home Office

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Passport Agency's average process time for applications was in each month since January 2010.

James Brokenshire: The following table shows the average passport processing times in days for each week.
	The data is not stored in a way that enables us to provide monthly averages.
	We do not hold data on non-straightforward average processing times prior to April 2012.
	
		
			 Average processing times 
			  Straightforward Non-straightforward 
			 Week ending Total Total 
			 15/06/2014 13.3 18.0 
			 08/06/2014 13.6 17.5 
			 01/06/2014 12.9 17.3 
			 25/05/2014 12.0 16.8 
			 18/05/2014 10.5 15.8 
			 11/05/2014 9.3 15.4 
			 04/05/2014 8.7 15.3 
			 27/04/2014 8.5 14.7 
			 20/04/2014 9.7 14.2 
			 13/04/2014 9.9 14.3 
			 06/04/2014 9.3 13.5 
			 30/03/2014 8.6 11.9 
			 23/03/2014 8.1 12.1 
			 16/03/2014 7.2 11.4 
			 09/03/2014 6.9 11.3 
			 02/03/2014 7.1 10.8 
			 23/02/2014 7.0 10.6 
			 16/02/2014 6.6 9.7 
			 09/02/2014 6.4 9.2 
			 02/02/2014 5.3 8.0 
			 26/01/2014 4.7 8.0 
			 19/01/2014 3.6 7.2 
			 12/01/2014 2.9 8.2 
			 05/01/2014 3.4 9.3 
			 29/12/2013 3.3 9.7 
			 22/12/2013 2.0 8.7 
			 15/12/2013 1.8 7.5 
			 08/12/2013 1.9 7.6 
			 01/12/2013 1.9 7.3 
			 24/11/2013 1.9 7.3 
		
	
	
		
			 17/11/2013 2.1 7.5 
			 10/11/2013 2.4 8.2 
			 03/11/2013 2.2 8.2 
			 27/10/2013 1.8 7.9 
			 20/10/2013 1.6 7.5 
			 13/10/2013 1.8 6.8 
			 06/10/2013 1.7 7.0 
			 29/09/2013 2.0 6.9 
			 22/09/2013 2.3 7.1 
			 15/09/2013 3.2 7.8 
			 08/09/2013 3.2 8.1 
			 01/09/2013 3.4 8.4 
			 25/08/2013 3.9 8.5 
			 18/08/2013 5.0 8.9 
			 11/08/2013 5.2 9.5 
			 04/08/2013 5.9 9.9 
			 28/07/2013 6.5 10.5 
			 21/07/2013 6.0 10.1 
			 14/07/2013 6.2 10.3 
			 07/07/2013 5.6 9.6 
			 30/06/2013 5.5 9.3 
			 23/06/2013 5.3 9.1 
			 16/06/2013 5.1 8.8 
			 09/06/2013 5.2 8.8 
			 02/06/2013 5.7 8.8 
			 26/05/2013 5.8 9.3 
			 19/05/2013 4.5 8.4 
			 12/05/2013 3.8 7.2 
			 05/05/2013 4.6 8.0 
			 28/04/2013 4.9 8.6 
			 21/04/2013 4.7 8.0 
			 14/04/2013 4.9 8.7 
			 07/04/2013 4.7 8.5 
			 31/03/2013 3.2 7.1 
			 24/03/2013 2.2 5.65 
			 17/03/2013 3.1 5.9 
			 10/03/2013 3.5 6.2 
			 03/03/2013 3.1 5.72 
			 24/02/2013 2.7 5.9 
			 17/02/2013 2.5 6.1 
			 10/02/2013 2.2 5.81 
			 03/02/2013 1.7 5.7 
			 27/01/2013 1.7 5.6 
			 20/01/2013 1.5 5.36 
			 13/01/2013 1.5 6.0 
			 06/01/2013 2.0 8.2 
			 30/12/2012 2.2 9.09 
			 23/12/2012 1.8 8.0 
			 16/12/2012 1.9 7.5 
			 09/12/2012 2.1 7.70 
			 02/12/2012 1.9 7.4 
			 25/11/2012 2.1 7.5 
			 18/11/2012 2.1 7.55 
			 11/11/2012 2.1 7.5 
			 04/11/2012 2.3 8.0 
			 28/10/2012 2.6 8.2 
			 21/10/2012 3.4 8.98 
			 14/10/2012 4.8 9.69 
			 07/10/2012 6.1 10.9 
			 30/09/2012 7.0 11.45 
			 23/09/2012 7.5 12.24 
			 16/09/2012 8.1 13.4 
			 09/09/2012 9.7 14.87 
		
	
	
		
			 02/09/2012 10.9 15.43 
			 26/08/2012 12.0 16.4 
			 19/08/2012 12.4 16.33 
			 12/08/2012 12.4 16.25 
			 05/08/2012 12.1 16.2 
			 29/07/2012 11.6 15.48 
			 22/07/2012 11.0 14.88 
			 15/07/2012 10.4 14.9 
			 08/07/2012 10.0 13.94 
			 01/07/2012 9.4 12.99 
			 24/06/2012 8.6 12.7 
			 17/06/2012 7.9 12.47 
			 10/06/2012 8.0 11.87 
			 03/06/2012 8.8 12.9 
			 27/05/2012 8.2 11.99 
			 20/05/2012 7.0 11.54 
			 13/05/2012 6.3 10.5 
			 06/05/2012 6.8 11.04 
			 29/04/2012 7.0 11.38 
			 22/04/2012 6.7 11.3 
			 15/04/2012 8.1 11.16 
			 08/04/2012 5.2 10.39 
			 01/04/2012 5.0 10.9 
			 25/03/2012 5.5 - 
			 18/03/2012 5.1 - 
			 11/03/2012 5.0 - 
			 04/03/2012 4.0 - 
			 26/02/2012 3.7 - 
			 19/02/2012 4.5 - 
			 12/02/2012 5.1 - 
			 05/02/2012 5.0 - 
			 29/01/2012 4.9 - 
			 22/01/2012 3.9 - 
			 15/01/2012 3.2 - 
			 08/01/2012 4.7 - 
			 01/01/2012 4.8 - 
			 25/12/2011 4.6 - 
			 18/12/2011 5.6 - 
			 11/12/2011 6.4 - 
			 04/12/2011 6.4 - 
			 27/11/2011 6.7 - 
			 20/11/2011 7.8 - 
			 13/11/2011 8.3 - 
			 06/11/2011 7.6 - 
			 30/10/2011 7.2 - 
			 23/10/2011 6.0 - 
			 16/10/2011 5.8 - 
			 09/10/2011 5.0 - 
			 02/10/2011 4.0 - 
			 25/09/2011 3.4 - 
			 18/09/2011 2.9 - 
			 11/09/2011 2.2 - 
			 04/09/2011 3.1 - 
			 28/08/2011 3.5 - 
			 21/08/2011 5.7 - 
			 14/08/2011 7.3 - 
			 07/08/2011 6.7 - 
			 31/07/2011 6.5 - 
			 24/07/2011 6.5 - 
			 17/07/2011 6.7 - 
			 10/07/2011 6.5 - 
			 03/07/2011 5.1 - 
			 26/06/2011 5.1 - 
		
	
	
		
			 19/06/2011 4.9 - 
			 12/06/2011 4.3 - 
			 05/06/2011 3.7 - 
			 29/05/2011 3.6 - 
			 22/05/2011 3.6 - 
			 15/05/2011 3.1 - 
			 08/05/2011 2.4 - 
			 01/05/2011 1.8 - 
			 24/04/2011 2.0 - 
			 17/04/2011 1.9 - 
			 10/04/2011 2.1 - 
			 03/04/2011 2.1 - 
			 27/03/2011 2.2 - 
			 20/03/2011 2.1 - 
			 13/03/2011 2.3 - 
			 06/03/2011 2.3 - 
			 27/02/2011 2.5 - 
			 20/02/2011 2.7 - 
			 13/02/2011 2.8 - 
			 06/02/2011 2.8 - 
			 30/01/2011 3.4 - 
			 23/01/2011 2.8 - 
			 16/01/2011 1.8 - 
			 09/01/2011 1.8 - 
			 02/01/2011 2.2 - 
			 26/12/2010 3.4 - 
			 19/12/2010 2.8 - 
			 12/12/2010 1.7 - 
			 05/12/2010 1.5 - 
			 28/11/2010 2.3 - 
			 21/11/2010 2.1 - 
			 14/11/2010 2.2 - 
			 07/11/2010 2.5 - 
			 31/10/2010 2.2 - 
			 24/10/2010 1.9 - 
			 17/10/2010 2.0 - 
			 10/10/2010 2.1 - 
			 03/10/2010 1.8 - 
			 26/09/2010 1.7 - 
			 19/09/2010 1.9 - 
			 12/09/2010 2.0 - 
			 05/09/2010 1.7 - 
			 29/08/2010 1.7 - 
			 22/08/2010 1.7 - 
			 15/08/2010 1.9 - 
			 08/08/2010 2.4 - 
			 01/08/2010 2.8 - 
		
	
	
		
			 25/07/2010 3.4 - 
			 18/07/2010 3.2 - 
			 11/07/2010 3.1 - 
			 04/07/2010 3.4 - 
			 27/06/2010 4.0 - 
			 20/06/2010 4.3 - 
			 13/06/2010 4.5 - 
			 06/06/2010 4.6 - 
			 30/05/2010 5.1 - 
			 23/05/2010 5.3 - 
			 16/05/2010 5.1 - 
			 09/05/2010 5.1 - 
			 02/05/2010 5.3 - 
			 25/04/2010 5.6 - 
			 18/04/2010 5.8 - 
			 11/04/2010 5.3 - 
			 04/04/2010 4.8 - 
			 28/03/2010 4.3 - 
			 21/03/2010 4.2 - 
			 14/03/2010 2.5 - 
			 07/03/2010 2.5 - 
			 28/02/2010 2.4 - 
			 21/02/2010 2.6 - 
			 14/02/2010 2.4 - 
			 07/02/2010 2.1 - 
			 31/01/2010 2.0 - 
			 24/01/2010 1.7 - 
			 17/01/2010 1.4 - 
			 10/01/2010 1.9 - 
			 03/01/2010 1.7 -

Passports

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of (a) new passport applications and (b) passport renewal applications were received by HM Passport Office in each week since 6 January 2014; and what proportion of those applications (i) were completed in three weeks, (ii) were completed in four weeks and (iii) remain outstanding for each of these weeks.

James Brokenshire: Table 1 sets out the volume of new and renewal passports on a weekly basis since 5 January 2014.
	Table 2 provides the proportion of straightforward cases dealt with within three weeks, four weeks and over four weeks. The information is not available by breakdown of application type.
	
		
			 Table 1: Intake by week 5 January 2014 to 29 June 20141 
			 Week ending New adult New child Renewal adult Renewal child All other types Total 
			 05/01/2014 3,030 4,328 29,941 5,144 4,266 46,709 
			 12/01/2014 5,736 9,855 73,261 14,077 9,046 111,975 
			 19/01/2014 7,078 12,305 80,996 17,394 9,943 127,716 
			 26/01/2014 8,244 14,557 94,380 19,750 10,668 147,599 
			 02/02/2014 7,531 14,030 90,090 19,672 10,091 141,414 
			 09/02/2014 9,230 17,631 103,116 23,789 12,375 166,141 
			 16/02/2014 8,974 17,636 97,358 22,858 11,657 158,483 
			 23/02/2014 8,357 16,867 87,888 21,586 10,919 145,617 
			 02/03/2014 8,524 18,510 95,083 25,727 11,549 159,393 
			 09/03/2014 9,089 20,876 99,389 29,262 13,278 171,894 
			 16/03/2014 8,596 20,372 95,061 27,928 12,522 164,479 
			 23/03/2014 8,825 22,016 97,372 28,108 12,814 169,135 
		
	
	
		
			 30/03/2014 8,432 20,681 94,469 26,664 12,607 162,853 
			 06/04/2014 8,209 20,074 90,163 25,349 12,405 156,200 
			 13/04/2014 8,890 22,059 96,146 26,741 13,965 167,801 
			 20/04/2014 7,179 18,273 81,373 22,714 11,688 141,227 
			 27/04/2014 6,778 18,034 82,594 25,028 11,896 144,330 
			 04/05/2014 8,484 22,954 103,206 34,520 15,072 184,236 
			 11/05/2014 7,452 18,530 84,286 27,987 12,129 150,384 
			 18/05/2014 8,785 23,128 103,417 36,282 15,432 187,044 
			 25/05/2014 8,953 21,945 92,824 33,656 14,841 172,219 
			 01/06/2014 6,581 16,893 76,042 27,496 12,053 139,065 
			 08/06/2014 8,268 22,067 97,236 37,055 15,464 180,090 
			 15/06/2014 7,930 22,205 96,068 39,380 15,475 181,058 
			 22/06/2014 7,594 26,073 107,228 46,954 15,951 203,800 
			 29/06/2014 7,975 24,801 93,394 36,679 14,899 177,748 
			 Total 204,724 486,700 2,342,381 701,800 323,005 4,058,610 
			 1 To provide the data in the format requested we have used a dataset that includes a small number of, for example, duplicate applications where the applicant has upgraded from a standard application to a fast track or premium. Accordingly there is an immaterial difference (less than 5,000) between this data and other published data on passport demand. The figures are weekly and comparison to monthly data is inappropriate. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Proportion of straightforward applications where the passports is issued within three weeks, proportion of passports issued in the 4th week and proportion over four weeks. 
			 Week ending % within three weeks % in 4th week % after four weeks 
			 05/01/2014 100.00 0.00 0.00 
			 12/01/2014 100.00 0.00 0.00 
			 19/01/2014 99.99 0.01 0.00 
			 26/01/2014 100.00 0.00 0.00 
			 02/02/2014 99.98 0.02 0.00 
			 09/02/2014 99.96 0.04 0.00 
			 16/02/2014 99.97 0.02 0.01 
			 23/02/2014 99.98 0.01 0.01 
			 02/03/2014 99.98 0.02 0.00 
			 09/03/2014 99.96 0.02 0.02 
			 16/03/2014 99.96 0.01 0.03 
			 23/03/2014 99.96 0.01 0.02 
			 30/03/2014 99.92 0.02 0.06 
			 06/04/2014 98.85 1.09 0.06 
			 13/04/2014 99.85 0.11 0.04 
			 20/04/2014 99.92 0.07 0.01 
			 27/04/2014 99.71 0.26 0.03 
			 04/05/2014 99.48 0.50 0.02 
			 11/05/2014 97.64 2.35 0.00 
			 18/05/2014 95.09 4.89 0.02 
			 25/05/2014 87.44 11.42 1.14 
			 01/06/2014 87.38 8.45 4.17 
			 08/06/2014 88.62 7.58 3.80 
			 15/06/2014 85.08 9.29 5.64 
			 22/06/2014 72.28 21.20 6.52 
			 29/06/2014 57.13 36.45 6.42

Passports

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what revenue has been received by the Passport Office for (a) standard passport applications, (b) fast-track applications and (c) premium service applications in (i) 1 January 2012 to 31 May 2012, (ii) 1 January 2013 to 31 May 2013 and (iii) 1 January 2014 to 31 May 2014.

James Brokenshire: The following table sets out the requested information:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Standard Fast-track Premium 
			 1 January to 31 May 2012 173.9 7.4 14.9 
			 1 January to 31 May 2013 170.9 9.9 17.2 
			 1 January to 31 May 2014 202.3 12.4 13.8 
			 Note: Figures are based on cashiered income, without any accounting adjustments.

Passports

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the viability of civil servants from other Departments being deployed to assist in the processing of outstanding passport applications.

James Brokenshire: To date all but one additional member of staff has been redeployed from within Her Majesty's (HMPO) Passport Office and the wider Home Office. Over 650 staff have been redeployed to HMPO frontline services since January 2014.

Passports

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 200W, on passports, when she expects to publish a reliable estimate of the additional costs arising from staff temporarily working away from their normal workplace and from overtime to deal with delays at the Passport Office.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 22 July 2014
	We will provide the actual costs incurred in redeploying staff to meet the exceptional levels of passport demand this year when that redeployment ends. Redeployed staff will continue to support Her Majesty's Passport Office frontline services until further notice.

Police: Databases

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the feasibility and potential benefits of introducing real time information onto the police National Mobile Property Register.

Michael Penning: The National Mobile Property Register (NMPR) helps reduce the theft of mobile devices. There are clear benefits in ensuring that information entered on to the system is as timely as is practicable, however I am not aware of any assessment made as to the additional benefits of introducing real time information.
	The existing Home Office held contract with the provider of NMPR is due to come to an end early next year, and we are working with Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), police forces and others to agree the successor arrangements. As part of this process, it is anticipated that a review of benefits to date will be undertaken to inform any future requirements and business case. This will ultimately be for PCCs to determine.

Police: Global Positioning System

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will commission an independent evaluation of the use of GPS tracking by police services in England and Wales.

Michael Penning: The Home Office has no plans to commission an independent evaluation.

Police: St Helena

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what visits by UK police officers in an official capacity to St Helena have taken place since May 2010; what the purpose and cost was of each such visit; and whether the full costs of each visit were met by her Department.

Michael Penning: Under Section 26 of the Police Act (1996), the Home Office has authorised three deployments of UK police officers to St Helena to provide advice to the St Helena Police: two in 2010 and a third in 2013. The Home Office does not hold details on the costs of these deployments which are a matter for the relevant UK police force facilitating the visit, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the authorities in St Helena.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14.

Karen Bradley: As part of the Home Office transparency programme, any spend over £25,000 is available on the Department’s website. Since January 2011, all contracts over £10,000 in value are published on Contracts Finder:
	http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk/

Radicalism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to protect civil liberties whilst tackling Islamic extremism across the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Government is committed to disrupting extremism and we use the full force of the law to do so, including proscribing groups concerned in terrorism, prosecuting the perpetrators of hate crime and excluding preachers of hate from the UK. We also remain committed to protecting fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of speech. That is why it is vital that we challenge those extremist ideas that also form part of a terrorist ideology, and threaten these freedoms. Central to this is challenging those behaviours and views which run counter to our shared values, which include freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law, equality of opportunity and treatment, and the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution of any kind.

Recycling: Codes of Practice

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received on changes to the Recyclers' Code of Practice in the last six months.

Norman Baker: The Home Office has received one letter from a member of the public relating to the Recyclers’ Code of Practice in the last six months. Home Office officials regularly discuss the code of practice with representatives from the mobile phone industry and law enforcement agencies.

Research Councils: Finance

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what funding her Department gives to research councils for the purpose of conducting non-animal tests or research;
	(2)  how much her Department gives to research councils to fund tests or research involving animals.

Norman Baker: holding answer 21 July 2014
	The Home Office does not provide any direct funding to Research Councils for the purposes of non-animal tests or research, or tests or research involving animals as it performs predominately a regulatory function. Significant Government funding is deployed to encourage the development and uptake of non-animal tests, largely through the Department for Business, Innovation and Science.
	The Home Office does however provide £250,000 per year to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to fund its activities, which include developing and promoting alternatives to the use of animals in research. Some research into non-animal methods requires the use of animals for validation and other purposes. It is therefore not possible to state definitively how much of this contribution has been used for the purpose of conducting non-animal tests or research, to fund tests or research involving animals, or for the purpose of promoting the uptake of alternatives.

Sexual Offences

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are taken to ensure adults living with children are made aware of convicted sex offenders moving within a close proximity to their residence.

Norman Baker: The coalition Government is committed to ensuring we have the best arrangements in place to protect children and families from harm.
	Under the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, members of the public are able to make an application for information to the police about a particular individual who has contact with a child, or children, in order to prevent harm.

Slavery

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what provisions are being made by her Department in conjunction with the NSPCC to ensure that calls from (a) professionals, (b) volunteers, (c) members of the public and (d) victims of modern slavery and human trafficking to the modern slavery helpline can be dealt with effectively; and when the modern slavery helpline will go live;
	(2)  what discussions she has had with the NSPCC about its current and future plans to train staff to run her planned modern slavery helpline; what that training will include; what the estimated cost is of such training; and which body will provide the training;
	(3)  to whom the NSPCC will refer cases of people (a) from EU countries and (b) who are not EU nationals, who call her planned modern slavery helpline and are identified as victims of modern slavery;
	(4)  what consultation she undertook with (a) non-governmental organisations, (b) civil society, (c) church organisations, (d) front-line professionals, (e) social workers and (f) local authority and Health Service staff on the creation of a modern slavery helpline prior to her announcement that such a helpline was being set up;
	(5)  what expertise the NSPCC has in dealing with victims of slavery; and what criteria were set by her Department for the securing of the contract to run the modern slavery helpline.

Karen Bradley: holding answer 22 July 2014
	We are working closely with the NSPCC to pilot a Modern Slavery Helpline as part of a wider communications and marketing campaign, to raise awareness of modern slavery. The helpline will be established by the end of July 2014. We are working with a number of non-governmental organisations and law enforcement agencies to ensure that all callers to the helpline can access any additional help, advice and support they need.
	Training will be provided to all call handlers working on the helpline, which will be delivered by the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice Centre and the Metropolitan Police Service, building on their specific expertise and knowledge in this area. The training will include the nature of modern slavery, the information to be obtained from individuals who call the helpline as well as organisations that can provide further support and guidance. There are no specific costs to the Home Office associated with providing this training.
	Each call to the helpline will be considered on a case-by-case basis and, where an individual requires further information or advice, the helpline call handlers will provide the details of other organisations for the caller to contact, as appropriate. This is regardless of whether the caller is from an EU or non-EU country.
	Stakeholders, including NGOs, have been engaged in the communications and marketing campaign which underpins the helpline.
	The NSPCC is ideally placed to deliver what we need given their existing infrastructure and expertise in safeguarding issues. The NSPCC runs a number of helplines, including Childline, FGM helpline and the Child Trafficking Advice Centre (CTAC) line. We have engaged NSPCC by means of a formal Grant Agreement, not a Contract, which will be managed using standard Home Office grant terms and conditions in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on its tackling tobacco smuggling strategy in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

James Brokenshire: The Tackling Tobacco Strategy in its current form came into force in April 2011. Customs operations target a range of commodities, including those covered by this strategy, and our officers and equipment are deployed to cover a range of activities. We do not therefore hold information relating specifically to tobacco.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on what (a) media training and (b) social media training for (i) her and (ii) Ministers in her Department since May 2010.

Karen Bradley: Departmental spend on media and social media training for Ministers and the Home Secretary since 2010 can be found in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Home Secretary Ministers 
			 Media Training 0 703 
			 Social Media Training 0 0

Vetting

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of applications to the Disclosure and Barring service in each police authority in England were approved within (a) 14, (b) 18 and (c) 25 days in 2013.

Karen Bradley: The following table contains figures relating to the number and percentage of Disclosure and Barring Service Certificates issued within 14, 18, and 25 days by police force area in England during financial year 2013-14.
	
		
			  Completed within 14 days Completed within 18 days Completed within 25 days 
			 Force name Number closed Percentage closed Number closed Percentage closed Number closed Percentage closed 
			 Avon and Somerset 34,051 82 36,427 88 38,821 94 
			 Bedfordshire 16,471 98 16,633 99 16,709 100 
			 Cambridgeshire 24,067 100 24,084 100 24,108 100 
			 Cheshire 20,347 60 26,022 77 31,663 94 
			 City of London 6,660 97 6,841 99 6,865 100 
			 Cleveland 16,942 82 17,681 86 18,246 89 
			 Cumbria 13,200 97 13,372 98 13,517 99 
			 Derbyshire 25,594 83 27,425 89 28,387 92 
			 Devon and Cornwall 43,035 90 45,547 95 46,377 97 
			 Dorset 11,842 62 13,175 69 15,118 79 
			 Durham 15,459 92 16,150 96 16,674 99 
			 Essex 23,154 45 26,420 51 32,968 64 
			 Gloucester 10,327 80 12,172 94 12,808 99 
			 Greater Manchester 69,031 80 78,215 91 83,212 97 
			 Hampshire 49,483 76 51,629 80 58,082 90 
			 Hertfordshire 61,000 95 62,296 97 63,652 99 
			 Humberside 14,262 53 17,168 64 20,147 75 
			 Kent 38,402 63 45,244 75 50,840 84 
			 Lancashire 59,501 81 65,529 89 70,265 95 
			 Leicestershire 25,308 86 27,933 95 29,034 99 
			 Lincolnshire 11,511 96 11,688 98 11,809 99 
			 Merseyside 44,075 71 51,603 83 59,996 96 
			 Metropolitan 43,192 17 59,781 24 98,768 40 
			 Norfolk 11,284 52 13,308 61 18,124 83 
			 North Yorkshire 2,666 9 3,053 10 3,796 13 
			 Northamptonshire 33,759 83 37,291 92 39,666 98 
			 Northumbria 35,101 67 39,505 75 47,379 91 
			 Nottinghamshire 24,371 94 25,160 97 25,575 98 
			 South Yorkshire 30,082 45 36,079 53 44,998 67 
			 Staffordshire 29,661 93 31,470 99 31,686 99 
			 Suffolk 9,820 67 11,987 82 13,800 95 
			 Surrey 13,669 44 16,265 53 22,073 71 
			 Sussex 13,480 49 15,824 57 19,219 69 
			 Thames Valley 21,060 42 24,379 49 29,748 59 
			 Warwickshire 5,782 60 5,844 60 6,008 62 
			 West Mercia 58,110 83 62,988 90 68,187 97 
			 West Midlands 29,436 28 35,214 34 51,768 50 
			 West Yorkshire 30,964 39 41,184 51 55,141 69 
			 Wiltshire 10,500 49 11,911 56 15,214 71 
			 Total 1,036,659 59 1,164,497 67 1,340,448 77

Vetting

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been placed under a discretionary bar from working with (a) children and (b) adults in each of the last five years; and for what (i) reasons and (ii) harm type each person was so placed.

Norman Baker: The following table sets out the number of people that have been placed under a discretionary bar from working with (a) children and (b) adults in each of the last five years. Information relating to the reasons and the harm type under which each person was so placed cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Calendar Year Discretionary Barred Children's Discretionary Barred Adults 
			 2009 26 2121 
			 2010 152 1022 
			 2011 163 503 
			 2012 157 391 
			 2013 165 441 
		
	
	The Independent Safeguarding Authority did not have the power to automatically place individuals on the adults barred list where their convictions predated 20 January 2009, when automatic barring on the adults list became available. These cases were considered under the discretionary barring route. The ISA continued to receive notification of these convictions in 2009 and did not conclude all of these cases until 2010-11. This means that the figures for discretionary bars were higher in 2009 and 2010. After 2010, the number of such cases decreased and the number of discretionary bars reduced in line with that change.

Vetting

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many discretionary referrals have been made from the National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit to the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: holding answer 21 July 2014
	Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit (CEOP) Command works with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to check the details of individuals against CEOP records when requested to do so, however they do not make discretionary referrals. Like its predecessor (the Criminal Records Bureau), the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has access to Police National Computer (PNC) records which includes details of those who have been charged or convicted in connection with CEOP Command investigations. This allows the DBS to undertake checks when criminal records certificates are applied for or referrals are received from employers or others.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to provide a substantive answer to question number 204223, tabled for answer on 14 July 2014.

James Brokenshire: Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The revised Prevent strategy published in June 2011 has three key objectives. These are to:
	respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it;
	prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and
	work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation which we need to address.
	The delivery of Prevent requires strong partnerships with a range of local groups in the community, including British Muslims among others.
	The Prevent strategy we inherited from the last Government was flawed. It confused the delivery of Government policy to promote integration with Government policy to prevent terrorism, which was a source of mistrust. That is why we refocused the Prevent strategy in 2011, to separate Prevent from broader integration work.
	Local Prevent co-ordinators across the country work with local services partners such as the police, Charity Commission and members of local faith communities, to understand local risks and needs, and deliver targeted projects and outreach work. We fund 30 Prevent priority areas to work on the frontline and with those vulnerable to extremism, including funding projects tailored to local needs. Prevent co-ordinators provide regular feedback to the Home Office, which helps shape the future development and implementation of the Prevent strategy.
	Preventing terrorism means challenging extremist (and non-violent) ideas that are also part of a terrorist ideology. The Prevent strategy focuses on all forms of terrorism, but is clear that the most serious risk to our national security comes from al-Qaeda, its affiliates and like-minded organisations. For this reason, the report of the Prime Minister’s Extremism Task Force (ETF), published last December, set out a definition of Islamist extremism. It noted that this ideology should not be confused with traditional religious practice.
	It is based on a distorted interpretation of Islam, which betrays Islam’s peaceful principles and also includes the uncompromising belief that people cannot be Muslim and British, and insists that those who do not agree with them are not true Muslims.

EDUCATION

Academies

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much financial and in-kind support, including staff time, has been provided to each of the events entitled the Academies Show held in London and Birmingham since May 2010; and what the cost was of (a) venue hire, (b) catering, (c) promotion and advertising, (d) presentations, (e) work performed by officials in his Department in preparing, promoting and visiting these events and (f) other costs in respect of those events.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education does not make any financial contribution to the Academies Show. The cost of venue hire, catering, promotion and advertising is covered by GovNet Communications, a private sector publisher and events organisation.
	A Minister and a director from the Department make keynote speeches to open each Academies Show, and between five and 10 other senior staff give up to three one hour presentations each, during the day.
	One member of staff from the Department works with GovNet Communications, for approximately one hour a week, to put together the events programme and to coordinate and manage the Department’s stand at the show. This stand is provided free of charge by GovNet. Up to 40 members of staff operate the Department’s stand on a shift basis, to answer questions that delegates have about the academies programme.
	The Academies Show brings together headteachers, teachers, governors, school business managers and others involved in the world of education. The show provides an opportunity for delegates to increase their understanding of the academies programme and to hear presentations and case studies from a wide range of education experts. The last Academies Show, held in London in April 2014 attracted almost 2,400 visitors.

Academies: Sheffield

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education who the approved Academy sponsors for primary and secondary schools are in Sheffield.

Edward Timpson: A list of all open academies is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development
	This information can be filtered to select open academies in Sheffield and their sponsors.

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will review her departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Since May 2010, the Department for Education has reduced the size of its estate from 30 properties, at a cost of circa £51 million per annum, to six properties costing circa £31 million per annum. This is a saving of £20 million per annum.
	In 2012, the Department announced an ambitious programme to reduce its estate from 12 sites to six, while maximising the efficiency of the buildings retained. This has now been achieved by reducing the amount of space we use, by surrendering unwanted facilities to landlords and through sub-letting vacant space to other organisations.
	We also plan to vacate Sanctuary Buildings at lease expiry in 2017 and relocate to a Government owned freehold building, which will generate a further saving of circa £8.5 million per annum.
	The Department is always looking to maximise the efficiency of its estate and we are currently working with the Cabinet Office’s Government Property Unit to update our Strategic Asset Management Plan.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within her Department's responsibility.

Nicholas Boles: The UK has never been fined for an infraction.
	Since May 2010, the UK has not lost any EU infraction proceedings that relate to matters that fall within the Department for Education’s responsibility.

History: Curriculum

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will take steps to ensure that the national curriculum highlights the importance of British history.

Nick Gibb: The new national curriculum, to be taught in all maintained primary and secondary schools from September 2014, was published in September 2013. The new history curriculum sets out, within a clear chronological framework, the core knowledge that will enable pupils to know and understand the history of Britain from its first settlers to the development of the institutions that help to define our national life today, as well as understanding how this relates to key events in world history.
	In addition, the new GCSE content criteria, published in April 2014, makes it a requirement that British history form a minimum of 40% of the assessed content over the full course; under current arrangements the requirement is 25%. The new GCSEs are to be taught from 2016, with first examination in 2018.

IGCSE

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make it her policy to retain the international GCSE on school league tables in order to encourage take-up of that qualification.

David Laws: The Government announced on 24 July 2014 that the only English and mathematics qualifications that will count in the 2017 secondary school performance tables will be reformed GCSEs in those subjects or qualifications reformed to meet the same standards and expectations. The decision was taken following advice from Ofqual, the independent regulator, about the specific challenges of the first awards of reformed GCSEs in summer 2017. That advice is published online at:
	www.ofqual.gov.uk/news/advice-ministers-performance-tables-2017
	The present arrangements for recognising current level 1/level 2 certificates, such as IGCSEs, will end with the introduction of reformed GCSEs in all subjects.
	Following the first exams in the new GCSEs, exam boards will be able to propose alternative academic qualifications for inclusion in performance tables. Any such qualifications will need to be accredited by Ofqual and be at least as demanding as and share key characteristics with the new GCSEs. New alternative academic qualifications could be recognised in performance tables from 2018.

Mathematics: East Sussex

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will estimate the number of students studying mathematics in further education in (a) Brighton and Hove and (b) East Sussex; and if she will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: The number of students studying mathematics is not published. However, the number of students entered for A level examination entries in mathematics is published in the “A level and other level 3 results: academic year: 2012/13”1 statistical first release. This is not exactly the same as the number of students, as a student can be entered for more than one mathematics exam.
	Nationally, we are reforming post-16 maths education and have set out our ambition for the majority of young people in England to study mathematics at least to age 18 by 2020. Students without at least a grade C at GCSE in mathematics are now required to continue to study this subject. We are reforming A Levels and are also introducing new ‘core maths’ qualifications for post-16 students from 2015 for those who achieve at least a C at GCSE, but do not progress to A level or AS level.
	1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-level-and-other-level-3-results-england-2012-to-2013-revised (Table 13a)

Pre-school Education: North Yorkshire

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many nursery places were available in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency in each year since 2010.

Sam Gyimah: I have asked Ofsted to respond using the data they hold on registered nursery places. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, will write to the hon. Gentleman, and a copy of his response will be placed in the House Library. Some providers, such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over, are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.
	The Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey1 collects data on all registered child care places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. These figures are therefore more comprehensive than the Ofsted figures; however data are only available at a national and regional level and in this case only for the north east, Yorkshire and Humberside.
	1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2011

Primary Education: Admissions

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make it her policy to allow a relaxation of up to four additional places in the maximum number of pupils in an infant class in areas where the demand exceeds the number of places available at the local catchment area school.

David Laws: There are no plans to raise the infant class size limit of 30 pupils per school teacher. The Department for Education believes that smaller infant classes have a positive effect on the progress of younger pupils.
	However, there are already a small number of prescribed exceptions where the limit of 30 pupils per teacher can lawfully be exceeded. These exceptions exist to protect the most vulnerable children such as children in care, children with a statement of special educational needs or children who move into an area where there is no other suitable school place available for them.

Pupil Exclusions

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children under the age of 16 have been excluded from school as a result of possession of illegal substances in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: In the 2011/12 academic year, there were 330 permanent and 7,740 fixed period exclusions due to drug or alcohol consumption. This is equivalent to 6.4% of all permanent exclusions and 2.5% of all fixed period exclusions respectively.
	These statistics are published in the exclusions “Permanent and fixed period exclusions from schools in England: 2011 to 2012 academic year”1 Statistical First Release and include pupils of all ages.
	1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-from-schools-in-england-2011-to-2012-academic-year (Tables 11 and 12)

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will publish all information her Department has collated on attainment at Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 in all GCSE subjects for all pupils eligible for the pupil premium in maintained schools in the last four years.

David Laws: The Department for Education publishes national, local authority and school level data in relation to disadvantaged pupils (defined as those who attract pupil premium funding) at key stage 2 and key stage 4 in the school performance tables, which are published online at:
	www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance
	Data covering the last three years is available and shows attainment and progression as well as a comparison with the performance of other pupils.
	A GCSE subject level breakdown is published at school level for all pupils and is available from the school performance tables, published online at:
	www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/download_data.html
	This information is not disaggregated further by pupil groups, including disadvantaged pupils, due to the small numbers that would result from such a breakdown. The majority of the data would need to be suppressed to ensure that no individuals could be identified.
	The information requested could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Admissions

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children secured a place at their top-choice school in (a) the UK, (b) Berkshire and (c) Windsor constituency in the latest period for which data is available.

David Laws: Data on the proportion of children that were made an offer of their first choice school for England was published on 24 June 2014 as part of the Statistical First Release ‘Secondary and primary school applications and offers: 2014’. This is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-applications
	The latest data is for entry into school in September 2014. Data for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are produced by the devolved Administrations.
	The figures for England and the local authorities of West Berkshire and Windsor and Maidenhead are given in the table. Data is provided by, and broken down as far as, local authority level. Therefore results by parliamentary constituency are not available.
	
		
			 Proportion of applicants who received their first choice primary or secondary school place, September 2014 entry 
			  Primary Secondary 
			 England 87.7 85.2 
			 West Berkshire 86.3 89.3 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 85.1 80.5 
			 Note: Based on offers made on respective national offer days.

Schools: Asbestos

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans she has to reduce levels of asbestos in school buildings.

David Laws: Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the employer, either the local authority or the school, has clear responsibilities to manage asbestos containing materials in schools safely. We expect schools to have an asbestos management plan in place and to manage it actively in line with legal requirements.
	The Department for Education takes the issue of asbestos management in schools very seriously. Our policy, as in other aspects of school management, is to give schools the support that they need to fulfil their responsibilities effectively.
	The Department has set up the Asbestos in Schools Steering Group to raise awareness and promote the effective management of asbestos in schools. We have also published guidance, which is available online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/asbestos-management-in-schools
	We are currently reviewing our asbestos policy and expect to publish the outcomes in the autumn.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps her Department will take to consult specialists in the field of educational psychology before the publication of her Department's planned review of its guidance on mental health and behaviour in schools.

Edward Timpson: The mental health and behaviour advice was developed with input from a range of specialist academics and professionals including teachers, headteachers and educational psychology specialists from the Department of Health’s Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYP IAPT). Early feedback is that the advice has been warmly received, including by schools, the mental health charity YoungMinds and mental health professors from University College London and the University of Roehampton.
	Good mental health services for young people are absolutely vital and something families care a great deal about. Our advice to schools helps teachers separate poor behaviour from unmet mental health issues so that all pupils receive help appropriate to their needs. It also encourages schools to promote positive mental health through the curriculum and peer mentoring.
	All guidance is kept under regular review to ensure that it is up-to-date and additions are made as necessary. Part of this involves meeting with relevant professionals to keep abreast of developments and we have plans in place to meet with specialists in the field of educational psychology which will inform the planned review in October.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps she is taking to assess the effect of her Department's guidance on managing mental health and behaviour in schools and ensure that schools identify and manage children with mental health problems.

Edward Timpson: In producing the Department for Education’s guidance on mental health and behaviour in schools a broad range of professionals were engaged, including the Department’s primary and secondary heads’ reference groups, mental health specialists, special educational needs experts and professors from University College London and the University of Roehampton.
	As part of our planned review in October, officials from the Department will continue to monitor feedback to ensure the advice remains up-to-date and useful for schools.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps her Department has taken to ensure that teachers, pastoral leaders, special educational needs co-ordinators and others working to support children in schools are able to support the identification and management of children with mental health issues.

Edward Timpson: In June 2014 the Department for Education published advice on behaviour and mental health in schools which aimed to help schools support all pupils’ mental health and wellbeing so that they can succeed in school. The guidance, which is published online1 provides case studies, information and links to organisations that can be approached for advice including on making referrals to specialist services.
	1 www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2
	The guidance also includes the new Mind Ed e-portal which is funded by the Department of Health and was launched earlier this year to provide training and information on mental health for all adults working with children and young people.
	The new 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice, due to be implemented from September, make it clear that schools should seek to identify underlying mental health conditions that their pupils have. The Code requires education, health and care services to jointly commission services for children and young people with SEND. It also requires the publication of a local offer in each local authority area, setting out all the services for children and young people with SEND, including mental health services. These should help schools to access the specialist support that they need.
	The Department has funded a wide range of support for the implementation of the SEND reforms from local authorities and the voluntary and community sector. This includes Nansen’s new SEND Gateway which brings together a wide range of practical information, advice and training for school staff and others working with pupils with SEND. This information can be found online at:
	www.sendgateway.org.uk

Schools: Mental Health Services

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what her policy is on providing psychiatric support for pupils aged between four and 11.

Edward Timpson: Teachers see their pupils on a daily basis and are often the first to notice changes in behaviour that may indicate a problem. The new 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice, due to be implemented from September, makes it clear that schools should seek to identify underlying mental health conditions that their pupils have.
	In June 2014 the Department for Education published advice on behaviour and mental health in schools, which is available online1. This guidance is intended to help schools support all pupils’ mental health and wellbeing so that they can succeed in school. It provides case studies, information and links to organisations that can be approached for advice. The guidance also includes the new Mind Ed e-portal which was launched earlier this year and is funded by the Department of Health.
	The behaviour and mental health in schools advice will help schools identify pupils whose behaviour suggests they may have an unmet mental health need and provide the support they need. The advice makes clear that teachers are not expected to be experts in mental health. Any support or intervention should be provided by staff with sufficient skills and knowledge, supported by the SEN Co-ordinator as necessary. Schools may also choose to involve external specialists at any point to advise them on identification of needs and the provision of effective support and interventions. For more severe problems, schools might need to refer pupils to medical professionals working in specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, voluntary organisations and local GPs.
	1 www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2

Schools: Sherford

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how the organisations which will run the proposed new schools in the new town in Sherford, Devon will be selected.

Edward Timpson: Where a local authority (LA) identifies the need to establish a new school, section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (the ‘academy presumption’) requires it to seek proposals, in the first instance, to establish an academy/free school. The LA must publish a new school specification, inviting proposals to establish and run the new school. The LA should assess all proposals received and send the outcome of their assessment to the Secretary of State. The LA may state its preferred proposer or ranking of proposers, which the Secretary of State will take into consideration when deciding whether or not to enter into a funding agreement with any of the proposers. However, the Secretary of State reserves the right to put in place a proposer of her own choice.
	Guidance about the process is published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-and-free-school-presumption

Teachers: Dismissal

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teaching staff were dismissed as a result of unsatisfactory attendance in each year since 2010.

David Laws: The information requested is not held centrally.

Teachers: Offences against Children

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 9 June 2014, Official Report, column 63W, on teachers: offences against, what information her Department holds and in what format on cases considered by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.

David Laws: From 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2014 the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) collected the information outlined below at the point of referral only and categorised as follows: state schools; academies and free schools; independent schools; Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS); police and public. At the point a case concluded at a panel hearing, cases were categorised by types of behaviour as follows: finance/dishonesty; drink/drugs related; exam misconduct; inappropriate relationships; inappropriate web access; violence; intolerance and other.
	From 1 April 2014 NCTL has continued to collect the source of referral. In addition it now collects information relating to types of behaviour at both the point of referral and the conclusion of the case. NCTL has revised the categorisation in light of experience over its first two years of operation. Categories are now: breach of boundaries and/or trust, bullying, dishonesty, drink/drugs related, exam misconduct, false representation, indecent images of children, intolerance and undermining British values, sexual misconduct, violence, other financial misconduct, other serious criminal behaviour and other.
	Full details of cases that progressed to a hearing where the panel found unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute and/or conviction of a relevant offence, are published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords =&publication_filter_option=decisions&topics%5B%5D=schools &departments%5B%5D=national-college-for-teaching-and-leadership&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B% 5D=all

Teachers: Training

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what audit arrangements apply to schools in receipt of School Direct funding; and what steps her Department takes to ensure that such funding is used only to support teacher trainees.

David Laws: School Direct funding is paid to schools by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) on behalf of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). EFA gains assurance on all funding transferred, including the NCTL funds. This is done using external auditors, audits and reviews of statutory annual accounts.
	NCTL has a grant funding agreement in place with all grant recipients, including lead schools that deliver School Direct, under which schools are bound to spend funds for the purpose intended, i.e. initial teacher training.

Teachers: Training

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in which subject areas School Direct places have been relinquished.

David Laws: This year, as we have done every year, we allocated more initial teacher training (ITT) places than the number of required trainees estimated by the teacher supply model to take account of the likely level of recruitment in each subject.
	As is normal, both lead schools and ITT providers have relinquished places since our initial allocation. Lead schools have relinquished places to train teachers in all subject areas with the exception of applied science.
	This is based on an analysis of our records using data extracted on 22 July 2014. We intend to publish full detail of the final allocations for the 2014/15 academic year in the coming months.

Teachers: Training

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many initial teacher training places originally allocated to School Direct were offered to higher education providers in June 2014; and how many additional places have been allocated to those providers compared to their original allocations.

David Laws: No places originally allocated to lead schools for School Direct have been offered to higher education providers. Earlier this year, we made a number of places available for those schools that have proven popular with applicants and recruited well. We extended this offer to higher education providers in June.
	Since they were initially agreed, we have agreed increases to higher education institution (HEI) allocations for a number of reasons. For example, we allocated more places in physics and mathematics throughout the year and we also allowed transfers between particular subjects. The additional places allocated as a result of our offer in June are just part of changes agreed to HEI allocations. We will publish data showing allocations by university and subject in the autumn.

Teachers: Training

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate she made for planning purposes of the number of initial teacher training (ITT) places that would be offered by all ITT providers in (a) early years, (b) primary and (c) specialist subjects in 2014-15; and what estimate she has made of the number of people who will take up ITT places in those categories in that period.

David Laws: We use the teacher supply model (TSM) to estimate the optimum number of teacher trainees required to start in any academic year. The TSM models trainees across the primary phase; it does not distinguish between early years, primary specialists and other individual primary courses. A technical description of the TSM is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model-a-technical-description
	The number of places allocated is not a target and should not be regarded as one. This year, as we do every year, we have over-allocated initial teacher training (ITT) places above the number of required trainees estimated by the TSM. This helps us to ensure we train enough teachers, taking account of the likely level of recruitment in each subject.
	We have published data showing the number of places allocated in each subject. This is published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-allocations-for-academic-year-2014-to-2015
	UCAS has published recruitment information for the 2014/15 academic year by subject. This includes data on primary courses and is published online at:
	www.ucas.com/data-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-statistical-releases
	It is important to note that the UCAS Teacher Training scheme is new this year and it is not possible to make a direct comparison with recruitment data from previous years.
	Recruitment figures from the 2013/14 ITT census are published online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-allocations-for-academic-year-2013-to-2014-final
	We will publish statistics from the census of 2014/15 trainees in November.

Vocational Education

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps she is taking to encourage the inclusion of employers in devising vocational education; and if she will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: Employers are playing a vital role in the Government’s reform of vocational and technical education. From September 2014, 227 high-quality tech levels will be available to 16 to 19-year-olds, across a wide range of industry sectors. These are all backed by employers, trade or professional bodies and provide an excellent pathway to apprenticeships, skilled employment and technical degrees. From September 2016, all tech level courses will also involve employers in the delivery and/or assessment of the qualification. As regulator, Ofqual is strengthening its regulatory approach to ensure that vocational qualifications meet employers’ needs.
	In addition, over 400 employers are involved in redesigning apprenticeships. Trailblazers are led by large and small employers, who are developing new apprenticeship standards and assessment approaches for key occupations in their sectors. By September 2017 all apprenticeship starts will be on the basis of our new employer-led standards.

TRANSPORT

Buildings

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review his departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport reviews assets and land and property holdings on an ongoing basis. As and when appropriate any land or property holdings deemed surplus are promptly identified and disposed of in accordance with business needs.
	This has resulted in reductions in the cost of the department estate and improved space efficiency as reported in the annual State of the Estate Report:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total cost of the estate £166,096,850 £161,858,767 £154,653,361 
			 Occupied space (m2) per FTE 12.4 11.9 10.3 
		
	
	In addition the Department for Transport has contributed land capable of delivering 3,752 homes to the Public Sector Land Programme, we are continuing to rationalise our estate, delivering cost savings and better value for money for the taxpayer.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many prosecutions the DVLA has brought for (a) possessing and (b) driving an uninsured and untaxed vehicle in (i) Llanelli constituency, (ii) Wales and (iii) the UK since 2011.

Claire Perry: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not hold this information for individual parliamentary constituencies or UK regions. Between January 2011 and June 2014, there were 115,829 prosecutions throughout the UK for using or keeping an untaxed vehicle on the public road.
	Prosecutions for the offence of keeping an uninsured vehicle began in November 2011. Up until the end of June 2014, 68,598 prosecutions for this offence had been taken forward across Great Britain.
	The DVLA does not hold figures about prosecutions where the vehicle was both untaxed and uninsured.

EU Law

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the UK has lost EU infraction proceedings since May 2010 which relate to matters that fall within his Department's responsibility.

Claire Perry: In relation to matters that fall within the responsibility of the Department for Transport the UK has lost no EU infraction proceedings since May 2010.

Highways Agency

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) taking the Highways Agency out of public ownership and (b) rebranding the Highways Agency, including (i) the replacement of uniforms and equipment of the staff of the Highways Agency and (ii) the replacement of liveries on the vehicles operated by the Highways Agency.

John Hayes: There are no plans to take the Highways Agency out of public ownership. The Infrastructure Bill seeks to establish the Highways Agency as a Government-Owned Company. An Impact Assessment has been completed on these proposals. This estimates the transitional costs of reform at between £11 million to £15 million. These costs would be one off costs and would be outweighed by savings of at least £2.6 billion over 10 years. No specific assessment has been made of the costs of rebranding or replacement of uniforms and liveries.

Railways: North of England

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many responses he has had to date to the consultation on Transpennine and Northern Rail franchises; and in what area each respondent to that consultation is resident.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport is currently conducting a joint public consultation with Rail North which will inform the specifications for both the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises. To date we have received 131 formal responses to the consultation from various people and organisations across the North of England. This number does not include responses to our online survey (which will be collected at the end of the consultation). These responses have not yet been fully analysed as the consultation is ongoing but they cover a wide range of themes. We will publish a stakeholder briefing document setting out a summary of responses to the consultation and how they were taken account of when we publish the Invitations to Tender (ITTs) for the franchises, expected in December 2014.
	The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises
	and concludes 18 August. No decisions have yet been taken.

Railways: North of England

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of job losses, station closures and cost savings that will result if the proposals in his consultation document on Transpennine and Northern Rail franchises are implemented without change.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport is currently conducting a joint public consultation with Rail North which will inform the specifications for both the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises. The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises
	and concludes 18 August.
	No estimates of the potential impacts on station staffing, or cost savings have yet been completed for any of the options set out in the consultation. The consultation states that the Department is not considering station closures for either the Northern or TransPennine Express franchises as part of the specification. Further work will be carried out, informed by the consultation, before any decisions are taken.

Railways: Procurement

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of the minimum and maximum (a) start-up and (b) annual running costs of establishing a government-owned company to bid for rail service contracts.

Claire Perry: It is the policy of this Government, and has been for all Governments since 1993, that private sector companies compete to run passenger rail franchises. The Department for Transport has set out clearly how it will do this through its franchising programme. This programme is providing millions of pounds of benefits for passengers and billions of pounds for taxpayers across the network from franchise awards like the recent Essex Thameside and Thameslink, Southern Great Northern franchises. The Department is making good progress towards the award of the InterCity East Coast franchise, expected in March 2015 and continuing the development of the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises, which we expect to announce the shortlisted bidders for shortly. As such, no estimate has been made of the potential costs of establishing a public sector body to participate in these competitions.

Railways: WiFi

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of annual private investment in (a) on train wif-fi services and (b) track side wi-fi infrastructure in each year of Control Period 5 2015 to 2019.

Claire Perry: The Department has not made any estimates for this type of investment.

Railways: WiFi

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total annual public investment in (a) on train wi-fi services and (b) track side wi-fi infrastructure will be in each year from 2014 to 2019.

Claire Perry: The funding provided by the Department for wi-fi on-board trains is commercially sensitive information. Releasing it has the potential to impact the commercial arrangements between train operators and their suppliers. The Department does not fund any track side wi-fi infrastructure. Network Rail are looking to develop a commercial case for any service of this type.

Railways: WiFi

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how (a) his Department and (b) the Office of Rail Regulation will distribute to train operating companies funds for investment in free passenger wi-fi on train services from the fine on Network Rail for punctuality performance; and whether those funds will be ringfenced.

Claire Perry: The funding will be ring fenced for investment into train borne wi-fi systems.
	We are still developing the mechanisms by which we will administer the funding, and will be in a position to give further information in September 2014.

JUSTICE

Alcoholic Drinks

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's policy is on alcohol consumption on the premises (a) in general and (b) during parties held in his Private Office.

Shailesh Vara: The departmental policy sets out that when providing in-house hospitality, no alcohol is to be paid for from departmental funds. When providing hospitality to external stakeholders discretion can be exercised but only where there is a justification, where expenditure is modest, and only then with approval at director level. The same policy applies to parties held in Private Offices.
	Employees are expected to behave in accordance with the standards set out in the Civil Service Code and the departmental Conduct policy.

Coroners

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the coroners' out-of-hours service;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the recommendations of her Department's report, Reforming the Coroner and Death Certification Service, published in 2004, have been implemented;
	(3)  what steps his Department has taken to promote minimal invasive autopsies.

Simon Hughes: The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for coroner law and policy only. It does not have operational responsibility for the coroner service and has therefore neither made an assessment of the effectiveness of coroners’ out of hours services nor taken steps to promote minimal invasive autopsies. I am, however, aware of the requirements of faith communities both for timely funerals and to preserve a body after death and the Chief Coroner has issued guidance to coroners on both out of hours services and on less invasive post mortem examinations. I am working with the Chief Coroner to consider how the service for all those who come into contact with coroners’ services can be improved.
	Part I of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and a suite of rules and regulations came into force in July 2013 with the aim of modernising the coroner system and improving the coroner service for bereaved people and others who come into contact with coroner services. This included the appointment of the first ever Chief Coroner to oversee the new system and drive improvement. The Ministry of Justice is committed to reviewing the impact of these reforms 18 months after their implementation. Reform of death certification is led by the Department of Health.

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice does not hold information at the level of detail requested. We have however taken steps to reduce our overall spending on stationery by securing better value for money from our suppliers and reducing paper usage.

Courts: Buildings

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent each month on court buildings that were closed in the period up to their disposal since May 2010.

Shailesh Vara: The Department is committed to disposing of surplus property assets expeditiously and reducing holding costs. Spend for each month on court buildings that were closed in the period up to their disposal since May 2010 can be provided only at disproportionate costs.
	The total cumulative gross benefits expected from the Court Estate Reform Programme (CERP) are £152 million over the Strategic Review (SR10) period, consisting of resource savings from court closures of £99 million and gross capital proceeds of £53 million from the sale of buildings.

Courts: Staff

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many whole time equivalent staff were employed at each magistrates' and Crown court in England in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: I regret I am unable to collate the information required to answer this request within the normal time constraints of an ordinary written Parliamentary Question.
	Providing details for the requested period of five years requires an extensive manual search of legacy records and reports.
	I will write again in due course with the information available.

Dartmoor Prison

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the efficacy of measures to prevent drugs being smuggled into HM Prison Dartmoor.

Andrew Selous: HM Prison Service operates an audit assurance mechanism to monitor prison security performance against national standards. On a yearly basis Internal Audit and Assurance Group visit each establishment to measure the effectiveness of local policies and procedures and award a rating according to the level of assurance gained.
	HMP Dartmoor received a security audit between the 24th and the 28th February 2014. The establishment was awarded the maximum possible green rating for all security modules assessed. Across recent audits HMP Dartmoor has received a green rating for all modules measuring the effectiveness of measures for preventing the conveyance of illicit articles.

Drake Hall Prison

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether all prisoners at HM Prison Drake Hall have access to a library and at what times of the day such access is given.

Simon Hughes: All prisoners at HM Prison Drake Hall have access to the prison library or its outreach service, in accordance with Prison Service Instruction 45/2011 on the Prison Library Service.
	The opening times of the prison library are as shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Day Time 
			 Monday to Thursday 2.00 pm to 7.15 pm 
			 Friday Closed 
			 Saturday 9.00 am to 3.45 pm 
			 Sunday 1.00 pm to 3.45 pm

Electronic Tagging

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on increasing the number of people tagged as a condition of a court order and supervised by community rehabilitation companies or successor bodies.

Andrew Selous: There are a number of court orders which may result in the electronic tagging of individuals. While the law allows the electronic monitoring of compliance with these orders, at present it is primarily imposed to monitor compliance with curfew requirements.
	Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts, taking into account the circumstances of each case and imposing a sentence which is proportionate to the seriousness of the offence.

Electronic Tagging

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the capabilities are of the multi-purpose ankle tag; and what forms of surveillance and supervision it makes possible.

Andrew Selous: The multi-purpose ankle tags will support the monitoring of compliance with curfew, exclusion and inclusion zones, and subject location.

Electronic Tagging

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the hardware and software providers in the new contract for electronic monitoring of offenders have been separated.

Andrew Selous: We divided the provision of electronic monitoring into discrete components, separating the supply of hardware and software, and competed these as separate lots because we consider this approach most likely to support the development and deployment of the best technology. This strategy also had the advantage of encouraging the participation of new entrants, SMEs and specialist companies, allowing them to bid for a particular component rather than the entire end-to-end service.

Electronic Tagging

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reasons were given to him by Buddi for its withdrawal from the new electronic contract in March 2014.

Andrew Selous: MOJ was unable to agree on certain technical and commercial aspects of the proposed contract with Buddi. We therefore took the decision to discontinue discussions with Buddi and recompete this part of the competition.

Electronic Tagging

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on fitting tags and trackers at court or prison.

Andrew Selous: Tags are not currently fitted at court or prisons. There is provision in the new contract for tagging at court and prison; we will explore the circumstances where this might be appropriate during the life of the contract.

Electronic Tagging

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on devolving responsibility for tagging contracts to police and crime commissioners.

Andrew Selous: On 15 July the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice announced that the Ministry of Justice will be awarding contracts to four companies for delivery of the next generation of electronic monitoring services.
	These national contracts will be managed by the Ministry of Justice. Within the existing legislative framework, there are opportunities for Police and Crime Commissioners to make use of the capability within national contracts to support their local priorities in order to ensure that the taxpayers money is used efficiently. Police and Crime Commissioners may however make local arrangements depending on local priorities.
	Separate to these national contracts, the Secretary of State has agreed to allow the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to enter into arrangements to pilot the effectiveness of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

Essex Community Rehabilitation Company

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what role his Department had in (a) recruiting and (b) assessing the suitability of the board and directors at Essex Community Rehabilitation Company.

Andrew Selous: The Chief Executive and the non-executive directors of the Essex Community Rehabilitation Company were appointed on the recommendation of selection panels comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Justice. The selection panel for non-executive directors also included an external assessor. Both panels made their recommendations on the basis of their assessment of candidates’ suitability for appointment. The second executive director was appointed by the CRC board in accordance with agreed appointment criteria.

Essex Community Rehabilitation Company

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make it a condition of his Department's contract with Essex Community Rehabilitation Company that the salaries of the chief executive, deputy chief executive and non-executive directors do not in real terms exceed the salaries paid to holders of the equivalent posts in probation services in Essex before 1 June 2014.

Andrew Selous: We are currently in the midst of the process of awarding Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts. We will announce the winners of these contracts in line with our commitment to roll out these important reforms by 2015.
	Contractors are required to employ personnel who are competent and have the right skills to fulfil their role. It will be a matter for each individual organisation to decide how to pay and reward their employees.

European Convention on Human Rights

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on reforming the European Convention on Human Rights; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Hughes: The Government has no plans to reform the European Convention of Human Rights.
	The Government is however committed to reform of the European Court of Human Rights and the process used by those invoking the European Convention on Human Rights.
	The Brighton Declaration, agreed under the UK Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in April 2012, was a broad package of measures to reform the Court. Key points agreed in Brighton to define better the boundaries when the Court should and should not be involved in cases are now being implemented. Protocol 15 to the Convention, which helps define these boundaries and shortens the timeframe for application to the Court, will help the Court fulfil the purpose for which it was intended: to deal with the most serious violations of human rights.

Magistrates Courts: Spalding

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has made an estimate of the number of people who will be resident 15 or more miles away from their nearest magistrates' court as a result of the closure of Spalding magistrates' courts.

Shailesh Vara: HM Courts and Tribunals Service published a six-week consultation on the future of Spalding magistrates court on 1 July 2014 with an accompanying Impact Assessment. This court has been unoccupied and unused since January 2014. HM Courts and Tribunals Service has received no complaints from witnesses or parties travelling to other courts since this time.
	The consultation, which closes on 12 August 2014, provides all court users with the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have about the proposals, including the impact the potential closure could have on travel distances.
	The Lord Chancellor will take into account all responses before any decision is made on the future of the court.

Mesothelioma

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect that the coming into force of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 has had on the payment of costs incurred by claimants for mesothelioma compensation.

Shailesh Vara: The civil litigation funding and costs reforms in Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 have not yet come into force in respect of mesothelioma cases.

Parole

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he last intervened in a decision taken by a parole board; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Selous: The Parole Board is an independent body with the statutory power to direct the release of recalled prisoners, indeterminate sentence prisoners whose tariff has expired and those determinate sentence prisoners who are subject to discretionary release arrangements.
	Once the Parole Board has directed release, the Secretary of State must give effect to the direction. Exceptionally, the Secretary of State can apply to the High Court to have a Parole Board release direction quashed if he considered it to be irrational although to date he has not sought to do so.

Police: Trials

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to tackle trials cracking due to police officers failing to attend court as witnesses.

Shailesh Vara: Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on cracked trial hearings does not include details regarding the occupation of absent witnesses. It is not possible to separately identify trials which crack due to police officers failing to attend court as witnesses. On the occasions when non-attendance of a police officer is the cause, we would expect the prosecutor to raise the matter with the Police force in question. Issues with police witness non-attendance should be discussed by the relevant Local Criminal Justice Board as part of their performance discussions.

Prison Accommodation

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many additional prison places have been purchased from private prison providers at each prison in each month since January 2014; and what the cost has been of such additional purchases.

Andrew Selous: The Ministry of Justice has purchased the following Additional Prison Places (APPs) in each privately run prison per month since February 2014. There were no APPs purchased in January 2014.
	
		
			 Prison February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 Total Estimated cost (£) 
			 Altcourse 100 100 100 100 100 610,000 
			 Dovegate 73 73 73 73 73 207,869 
			 Forest Bank 96 96 96 96 96 628,058 
			 Lowdham Grange 0 32 32 32 32 134,914 
			 Peterborough (male only) 48 48 48 48 48 230,000 
			 Parc 0 43 63 63 63 336,000 
			        
			 Total Estimated Costs      12,146,841 
			 1 Costs have been calculated using current contract daily prisoner rates which may be subject to change as a result of: (a) Contractual Pricing Indexation changes at individual prisons during the period the APP places have been purchased for, where applicable; (b) Actual utilisation of APPs purchased. 
		
	
	The total available places for each prison are as described for June 14, totals are not cumulative.
	The average cost per place of the above is approximately £13,000 p.a.
	This compares with the average Direct cost per place across all prisons in 2012-13 of £28,000.
	Sensible measures have been taken to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to deal with any temporary increases in population. These include creating additional places in prisons in a safe and decent way and ensuring that prisons reflect the needs of the current population.
	We will end this Parliament with more adult male prison places than we inherited, more hours of work in prisons than we inherited, more education for young detainees than we inherited and a more modern, cost effective prison estate than we inherited.

Prisoner Escapes

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the highest number of absconds from prison by an individual offender has been in the last 20 years;
	(2)  how many offenders have absconded from prison on more than one occasion in each of the last 20 years.

Andrew Selous: To identify how many prisoners have absconded on more than one occasion in the last 20 years, or the highest number of absconds by an individual, would require a manual examination of the prison record of every prisoner who had absconded in this time frame. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
	As a result of improved risk assessment procedures the number of prisoners absconding from open prisons has reduced significantly over the last 10 years. There were 225 absconds in 2013-14 compared to 1,301 in 2003-04.

Prisoners: Musical Instruments

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the balance between benefit and risk of permitting prisoners to have access to steel strung guitars in their cells.

Andrew Selous: Following feedback from prison Governors, we have made some minor adjustments to the property prisoners are allowed to have under the revised Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) framework, including metal guitar strings. Governors were notified on 15 July 2014 that, with immediate effect, it was open to them to include full metal guitar strings on their local facilities lists. This allows eligible prisoners to purchase them for use on acoustic guitars kept in-cell.
	Full metal strings are, as with the nylon and metal coiled strings which were already permitted, available by application only, issued on a one-for-one basis, and subject to local risk assessment. As with the nylon and metal coiled strings, Governors can make them available to prisoners on the Standard and Enhanced levels of the IEP framework.

Prisons: Drugs

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons have held amnesties for needles used for drug-taking in the last year.

Andrew Selous: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not record centrally whether prisons have held amnesties for needles for drug taking and could not do so without incurring disproportionate cost by conducting a survey of every prison establishment.
	We have a zero tolerance approach to drugs and other illicit items in prisons. Anyone caught trying to smuggle these into prisons will be dealt with severely and may be referred to the police for prosecution.
	We are working hard to keep contraband out of prison, and NOMS deploys a comprehensive range of security measures to reduce the availability of drugs in prisons, including working closely with police forces and carrying out random mandatory drug tests. The Agency works closely in partnership with the NHS in England and Wales who commission a range of treatment services in prison to support those with a substance misuse problem out of addiction and into sustained recovery.

Prisons: West Yorkshire

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many books are stocked in the libraries at HM Prison (a) Leeds and (b) Wakefield.

Andrew Selous: The Prison Library Service aims to ensure that prisoners have access to a similar catalogue of books that are available to readers in the community, through a request and loans service.
	At Friday 18 July 2014, HMP Leeds had a book stock of 12,720 and HMP Wakefield had a book stock of 12,469.

Probation: Essex

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which companies have entered the competition to run probation services in Essex.

Andrew Selous: The Transforming Rehabilitation competition has a strong mix of bidders from a diverse range of partnerships. Private firms, charities experienced in tackling issues affecting offenders and small and large businesses have joined together to compete for the work that will help turn offenders' lives around. Bids were received at the end of June and we have a healthy competition in all areas. The process to award Community Rehabilitation Company contracts is ongoing and the details of which bidders remain in the competition, in which regions, is commercially sensitive information, which I am not able to make public at this stage. We are committed to rolling out these important reforms by 2015.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14.

Shailesh Vara: As part of my Department’s transparency programme, any spend over £25,000 is available on the Department’s website. Since January 2011, all contracts over £10,000 in value are published on Contracts Finder:
	http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk/
	The private sector has an important role to play in helping deliver much needed reforms. We remain committed to promoting a diverse market including public, private and voluntary sector, as well as ensuring rigorous contract management and high standards of behaviour.
	We have undertaken a major review of contract management to ensure that we have in place robust and accountable systems.

Railways: Fares

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of the offence of failing to produce a valid train ticket on demand in each year since 2010.

Michael Penning: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. However, not all offences are individually reported within the centrally held data. Data for offences under Regulation of Railways Act 1868 are reported as part of a related group of offences, and it is not possible to separately identify prosecutions for offences of failing to produce a valid train ticket from other offences under the Act. This information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales and as such it can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Sexual Offences: Registration

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders convicted of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register in each of the last five years were given each type of available sentence for the offence.

Michael Penning: It has not been possible to answer this question within the allotted timeframe. I will write to the hon. Member.

Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of whether the bringing into force of the provisions of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill will lead to fewer successful claims for damages under the current negligence laws;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the likely reduction in insurance premiums as a result of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill;
	(3)  with reference to his article of 2 June 2014 on the Conservative Home website, what the evidential basis is for his statement that time and again we see stories of a jobsworth culture or a legalistic culture that seems to stop common sense in its tracks.

Shailesh Vara: I have spoken to many business groups and employers who tell me about how the compensation culture is tying their business in knots. Employers often do the right thing, put sensible safety procedures in place, and then someone does something daft and the employer still finds himself facing a negligence claim. The Bill should reassure employers and others that the courts will always consider the context of their actions before making a decision on liability. It should also deter claimants from bringing unfounded claims in the first place thereby helping to reduce insurance premiums. We have published an impact assessment at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/social-action-responsibility-and-heroism-bill#impact-assessment

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2014, Official Report, column 710W, on training, in which the Minister indicated that Ministers had received £3,000 worth of media training, which company provided media training in June 2010; what the nature of this training was; and which ministers received such training.

Shailesh Vara: The media training was provided by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in June 2010 to Crispin Blunt, Lord McNally and Jonathan Djanogly, who were Ministers in the Department at the time.
	There is a high-level of interest in the work of the Ministry of Justice and this training was designed to aid Ministers to convey the work of the Department to the public and to clearly explain the reforms being undertaken across their policy areas.
	There has been no spending on external media training since then.

HEALTH

Cancer

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress he has made towards meeting the commitment in the Government's 2010 cancer strategy of saving an additional 5,000 lives from cancer each year.

Jane Ellison: It is too early to be able to assess progress against the ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014-15, to halve the gap between the survival estimates in England and those in the best countries in Europe. However, we do know that cancer survival and mortality rates continue to improve and we are developing proxy measures to assess progress in a more timely manner, particularly in terms of the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages one and two and cancers diagnosed through emergency routes.
	The National Health Service and Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Outcomes Indicator Set are starting to enable us to assess progress, at national and local level. For example, data on one-year survival from all cancers and one-year survival from breast, lung and colorectal cancer were published as part of the CCG outcomes indicator set for the first time on 19 June 2014. NHS England is continuing to monitor the progress of the national health service in reducing mortality from cancer in line with the NHS Outcomes Framework, and from 2014-15 there will be a range of new NHS Outcomes Framework indicators on stage of diagnosis which will provide a good proxy measure in future on progress in delivering earlier stage of diagnosis of cancer.
	The Mandate for the NHS for 2014-15 sets out an ambition for England to become one of the most successful countries in Europe at preventing premature deaths. Tackling premature deaths from cancer will contribute to this. A range of work at national and local level is aimed at improving cancer survival. For example, results from the first national “Be Clear on Cancer” lung cancer campaign in 2012 showed that around 700 extra patients were diagnosed with lung cancer compared to the previous year. Approximately 400 of these patients had their lung cancer diagnosed at an early stage, with around 300 more patients having surgery, giving them a better chance of survival.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to make employment a clinical commissioning group outcome indicator; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: All of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) outcomes indicators are chosen on the basis that they contribute to the overarching aims of the five domains in the NHS Outcomes Framework.
	The indicators are developed through three routes:
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence makes recommendations on indicators to NHS England;
	NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) also directly develop indicators; and
	Where new indicators are introduced to the NHS Outcomes Framework, consideration is given by NHS England and the HSCIC as to whether these are measurable at CCG level.
	The CCG Outcomes Indicator Set 2014-15 includes an indicator on the proportion of adults in contact with secondary mental health services who are in paid employment. The potential for other employment-related indicators will be considered as part of the future development of the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set.

Continuing Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to improve the reassessment process for people with progressive and non-improving conditions who are in receipt of NHS Continuing Care funding.

Norman Lamb: The ‘National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care’ states that individuals found eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare should have their case reviewed initially after three months, and then annually as a minimum. The diagnosis of a particular disease or condition is not in itself a determinant of eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare.
	NHS England has recently worked closely with the Department and other key stakeholders in developing an Assurance Framework to ensure that clinical commissioning groups comply with the requirements of the National Framework.
	In addition to this, the Department has supported the development of an electronic training tool for those who are involved in assessment and decision making for NHS Continuing Healthcare. The tool is available free of charge for use by all staff involved in this process.

Continuing Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to routinely collect data on the number, outcome and details of applications for NHS Continuing Care.

Norman Lamb: The Department has no plans to collect data regarding NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) applications.
	Until 31 March 2013, quarterly data on the number of people in receipt of NHS CHC funding was collected and published on the Department’s website at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-continuing-healthcare
	Since 1 April 2013, responsibility for the collection of data for NHS CHC has been transferred to NHS England. Data on the number of people who are eligible for NHS CHC is published quarterly at:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?q=continuing+healthcare&area=both

Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the annual cost to his Department of (a) stationery and (b) postage incurred when sending a ministerial reply to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Department estimates that in 2013 it spent approximately £3,900 on stationery for ministerial replies to hon. Member correspondence.
	All parliamentary post is delivered by a Departmental messenger, whose duties include, but are not limited to, delivering hon. Member correspondence. Any correspondence for constituency offices would be sent by post, when requested, but the Department does not record how many replies to hon. Members were sent to constituency offices.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 310W, on diabetes, what information his Department collects centrally about diabetics.

Jane Ellison: The Health and Social Care information Centre (HSCIC) collects data on diabetes through the National Diabetes Audit Programme, the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF), prescribing and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
	The National Diabetes Audit (Adults) measures the effectiveness of diabetes healthcare against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guidelines and NICE Quality Standards, in England and Wales.
	The National Diabetes Inpatient Audit collects information on the diabetes management that patients receive while in hospital and patients’ experience of the inpatient stay.
	The National Pregnancy in Diabetes Audit which measures the quality of pre-gestational diabetes care against NICE guideline based criteria and the outcomes of pre-gestational diabetic pregnancy.
	The National Diabetes Foot Care Audit collects data which enables all diabetes foot care services to measure their performance against NICE clinical guidelines and peer units, and to monitor adverse outcomes for people with diabetes who develop diabetic foot disease.
	The patient experience of diabetes services (pilot collection) measures the diabetes healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales.
	The QOF collates information across a range of measures on people aged 17 or over who have a diagnosis of diabetes at general practice level.
	Data on prescriptions dispensed in the community in England are available for all drugs dispensed in England within the prescription cost analysis dataset which includes drugs used for diabetes. The HSCIC also produce a specific publication—Prescribing for Diabetes in England. The 2005-06 to 2013-14 data was released on 12 August 2014. Prescribing data are also available at clinical commissioning group and area team level within iView. GP practice level prescribing data are also available via the HSCIC website at:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/gpprescribingdata
	Providers of NHS services in England are required to supply information on activity to the Secondary Uses Services (SUS) database via commissioning datasets. Each month an extract from the SUS database is taken and moved into the HES database which is then made available for analysis. It is possible, therefore, to report activity on admissions to hospital for patients with a diagnosis of diabetes.
	Like the majority of data collections for which the HSCIC is responsible, information collected focuses on activity that has taken place rather than where patients have missed appointments.

Diabetes

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes there were in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes between 2004 and 2014.

Jane Ellison: The Quality and Outcomes Framework has been collating data on the number of adults aged 17 years and older who have been diagnosed with diabetes and are on general practice diabetes registers. In 2005 there were 1,766,391 adults aged 17 years and older with diagnosed diabetes on general practice registers. In 2013 this number was 2,703,044.

Electronic Cigarettes

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he plans to announce the implementation of industry standards for those e-cigarettes regulated as consumer products;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to ensure that no rogue batches of e-cigarettes and liquid reach the UK market.

Jane Ellison: The revised European Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU), which has a transposition deadline of May 2016, establishes new rules for the safety, quality, ingredients and presentation of consumer electronic cigarettes, as well as refill mechanisms. The new regulations will require six month prior notification of a range of information before either e-cigarettes or refills are placed on the market.
	In the meantime, e-cigarettes are subject to general product safety regulatory requirements, which include powers for local trading standard officers to withdraw unsafe products from the market.

Food: Hygiene

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which local authorities in England publish on their websites (a) the names and addresses of individuals and businesses convicted under the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006, (b) details of the offences for which those individuals and businesses were convicted and (c) the penalty levied by the courts in each such case.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not held centrally.
	The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed that local authorities routinely issue press releases with details of the prosecutions that they take. Local authorities also provide details of the number of United Kingdom establishments prosecuted as part of their annual monitoring returns to the FSA. Based on these returns, 271 establishments in England were prosecuted for food hygiene offences during the period April 2012 and March 2013. The FSA publishes information on enforcement activity by individual local authorities, including the number of prosecutions taken, on an annual basis. This is available on the FSA website at:
	www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/monitoring/laems/mondatabyyear/
	The data for 2013-14 are not yet available.
	Consumers can obtain information about hygiene standards in local food businesses from the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme website at:
	http://ratings.food.gov.uk/

General Dental Council

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to respond to the British Dental Association's recent letter to him expressing concern at the regulatory ability of the General Dental Council and condemning its proposed annual retention fee increase of 64 per cent. [R]

Daniel Poulter: A response was sent to the British Dental Association on 28 July 2014.
	In my role as Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health, I have regular contact with regulators on a whole range of issues and I have a meeting scheduled with the General Dental Council in September at which these matters will be discussed.

General Dental Council

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures his Department has put in place to deal with the consequences of a failure by the General Dental Council to meet key tests set by the Professional Standards Authority. [R]

Daniel Poulter: The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is an independent body and the Department does not have any input into the reviews or investigations it carries out. In its annual report the PSA have recommended to each of the regulators that they:
	review this year’s performance review report as a whole, taking account of the PSA’s views, and consider whether they can learn and improve from the practices of the other regulators;
	address any areas of concern that are highlighted in this year’s performance review report; and
	ensure that their Councils review and discuss the performance review report in a public council meeting.

General Dental Council

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on top-level pay at the General Dental Council. [R]

Daniel Poulter: The General Dental Council is an independent body, directly accountable to Parliament. It is therefore for the General Dental Council to determine its top-level pay. However the Department expects all regulators to show restraint and to set salaries which are appropriate.

Health Services: Private Sector

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to answer of 14 July 2014, Official Report, column 440W, on health services: private sector, whether there are requirements regarding what proportion of the surplus made by private companies by providing NHS services must be reinvested in those services.

Jane Ellison: Decisions on reinvestment are taken by providers individually and are not set centrally.
	It is this Government’s policy that national health service patients should receive services from the best providers available. All providers need to reinvest in their services to ensure that they will continue to be chosen by commissioners or, where patients have a choice of provider, by patients themselves.
	The Government is clear that where NHS commissioners decide to use competition this must always be as a means to improve the quality of NHS services and achieve best value, as opposed to being driven by price alone.

Horse Meat

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps he has taken in response to the discovery of horsemeat in other foods in 2013 to improve co-operation between Government departments on public health issues.

Jane Ellison: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) continues to develop its capability in relation to food fraud, in response to recommendations made in the reviews of the horsemeat incident, working closely with other Government Departments, enforcement agencies, local authorities and industry to detect and deter food fraud. The FSA is building an intelligence gathering network to increase the opportunity to capture and act on intelligence which may be indicative of future risks, as well as producing strategic and tactical assessments to share with relevant enforcement agencies, particularly through the Government Agency Intelligence Network.

Learning Disability

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to support the establishment of charities that support people with learning disabilities working in communities throughout the UK.

Norman Lamb: Government Departments do not establish charities, but do work with a wide range of organisations which are led by, represent or support disabled people, some of which are registered charities.
	The Government is committed to enabling disabled people, including people with learning disabilities, to fulfil their potential and play a full role in society.
	The Department for Work and Pensions is working with Mencap and the British Institute for Learning Disabilities to look at improving employment support for people with learning disabilities. Disabled People’s User Led Organisations (DPULOs) are run by and for disabled people. They have an important role in changing perceptions, giving disabled people a stronger voice, and providing peer support in areas such as social care, financial services, employment and volunteering. The Government is working to help strengthen existing disabled people’s user led organisations and help develop new ones. DPULOs in the United Kingdom have received funding for 178 projects from the DPULO programme; 13 of which are specifically for people with learning disabilities and a further 129 deal with a range of disabilities, including learning disabilities.
	We will continue to work with all partners, including the voluntary sector, to change the culture and practice of services in order to improve the health and well-being of people with learning disabilities, including their employment.

Lung Diseases

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding his Department has designated for research into idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2014-15.

Daniel Poulter: Total spend in the current and future financial years by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on research on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to designate funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including IPF. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and the national health service, value for money and scientific quality.
	In 2013-14, the NIHR spent £0.6 million on research on IPF through research programmes, research centres and units, and research fellowships. Total spend by the NIHR on research on this disease is higher than this because expenditure by the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) on IPF cannot be disaggregated from total CRN expenditure.

Lung Diseases

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what processes are in place to ensure that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients in the NHS and their families have access to high quality information about that condition;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis among healthcare professionals.

Jane Ellison: Information for both health professionals and patients about idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is available on the National institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) website at the following link:
	www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/Conditions-and-diseases/Respiratory-conditions/Pulmonary-fibrosis
	A guideline for IPF and a NICE Technology Appraisal for Pirfenidone as a treatment for IPF are available and an IPF Quality Standard is currently in development.
	The British Lung Foundation also offers advice which can be found at:
	www.blf.org.uk/Search?query=idiopathic+pulmonary+fibrosis
	Patient and public voice members are represented on the Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group. Details can be found at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-a/a14/
	The NHS standard contract for interstitial lung disease makes reference to the additional roles that specialist centres providing care have in relation to patient education and patient support groups.
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a14-respiratory-inters-lung.pdf

Lung Diseases: Transplant Surgery

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in England and Wales are currently considered eligible for lung transplantation.

Jane Ellison: We are advised by NHS Blood and Transplant that, as at 24 July 2014, there were 72 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis resident in England and Wales considered eligible for lung transplantation and currently listed for a lung transplant (where the primary disease is recorded as fibrosing lung disease).

Manufacturing Industries: Drugs

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage international pharmaceutical companies to locate in the UK.

George Freeman: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	In December 2011, the Government launched the Strategy for UK Life Sciences which includes measures to improve the commercial, research and regulatory environment, with the aim of making the UK the location of choice for investment. Government has also taken steps to strengthen protection for intellectual property in the UK.
	In 2012 a specific organisation was set up to promote life sciences to international companies: the Life Sciences Investment Organisation (now reformed as the Life Sciences Organisation (LSO), with responsibility also for UK trade promotion). LSO collects and distils information on the UK’s internationally competitive commercial offers in life sciences; these are marketed to potential investors via the UK Trade and Investment global network of investment advisors, with tailored support provided to those investors that choose the UK.

Medical Records: Databases

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to engage with the public about (a) care.data and (b) ways of opting-out of care.data before data is collected.

Daniel Poulter: NHS England is currently listening to the views of patients, the general public, general practitioners (GPs) and stakeholders on how best to further build trust and confidence in the care.data programme. Local stakeholders, including GPs, patients, the general public and health and care representatives, are taking part in debates and workshops to air their views.
	There will be a phased approach to implementation. NHS England intends to work with a number of GP practices, 'pathfinders', in the autumn to test, evaluate and refine all aspects of the data collection process ahead of national roll-out. This will include consideration of ways of objecting "opting out" to being included in the care.data programme.
	A care.data advisory group has been established to support the programme and that group will also be involved in shaping the pathfinder stage. Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support and a non-executive director of NHS England, has agreed to chair the group.

NHS England

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who was involved in the recent NHS England consultation events on the prioritisation of funding; when the prioritisation of funding will be published; and what the outcome of those consultation events was.

Daniel Poulter: The Government’s Mandate to NHS England sets the overall objectives for the national health service in England. It is then for NHS England and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how to prioritise funding to meet those objectives.
	NHS England has responsibility for CCG allocations and these decisions have been taken independently of Government. The allocations formula is based on independent academic research and the independent advice of a committee of experts, the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation.
	Officials from the Department meet regularly with those from NHS England to talk to them on an ongoing basis on a range of issues relating to the NHS, including finance. Likewise, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan) meets regularly with both the chief executive and the chair of NHS England.
	NHS England Publications Gateway function was established on 1 April 2013 to ensure that all NHS England national communications to NHS commissioners are fit for purpose in terms of content and policy governance. Review and approval from the Patients and Public Partnerships Lead and from the national stakeholder team for all publications is mandatory so that consultation proposals, any stakeholder engagement (internal and external), and responses accord with principles of better regulation and existing Government Code of Practice on Consultation. This is to ensure that the NHS England's extensive consultation exercises and responses follow best practice in terms of public consultation and engagement.
	The prioritisation of funding was published on the NHS England website:
	http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/bm-item7.pdf
	for the NHS England board meeting in December 2013. The board paper entitled “Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2014/15 and 2015/16” summarises the consultation at paragraph 4:
	“In light of NHS England’s commitment to transparency and the significant continuing interest in allocations policy reflected in correspondence and FOI enquiries, the review team has held four regional workshops on allocations over the last few months which have been attended by nearly 400 representatives from CCGs, local authorities and providers. There has also been ongoing dialogue with the Commissioning Assembly, and a Finance and Planning subgroup has recently been formed to collaborate with NHS England’s finance leadership on the linked topics of allocations and the proposed strategic planning programme”.

NHS: Complaints

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the NHS complaints process; and if he will take steps to prevent vexatious complaints being made.

Daniel Poulter: The Government, as part of its response to the Francis and Clwyd/Hart reviews, has established a Complaints Programme Board to bring together a range of partners across the care system to implement actions that will lead to improvements in complaints handling by the national health service. A significant area of its work programme is to improve transparency, governance, and the sharing of good practice.
	We do not consider it appropriate generally to seek to discourage any complaints about the NHS. However, individual NHS organisations would be expected to have published information on how they handle unreasonably persistent complainants, and to deal with such complaints in a proportionate and fair manner.

Opiates

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what training on the potential risks of opioid substitution treatment medications is provided to pharmacists, social workers and health visitors.

Jane Ellison: There is robust clinical guidance on substitute prescribing, which covers the timing and circumstances under which people with opiate dependency may be allowed to take home and be responsible for their opioid substitution medicine.
	It is for the professional bodies of pharmacists, social workers and health visitors to set the standards that training equips professionals to meet, and for employers to ensure that staff who are involved in or might encounter opioid substitution treatment are trained in its potential risks, including to children.

Opiates: Children

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recommendations in the report Medications in Drug Treatment: Tackling the Risks to Children published on 29 April 2014 by Adfam.

Jane Ellison: We welcome the valuable work of Adfam in producing this report.
	Officials from the Department and Public Health England have regular contact with Adfam and will be discussing with them what actions would be appropriate.

Optical Express

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason the NHS logo appears on the Optical Express website; what the relationship between Optical Express and the NHS is; whether NHS funding (a) is and (b) has been provided to Optical Express in order to carry out procedures on NHS patients; and how many NHS patients were referred to Optical Express by the NHS in each of the last 10 years.

Daniel Poulter: The current NHS identity guidelines only allow opticians to use the NHS logo on a poster in their premises. The guidelines are available at:
	www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/opticians/introduction
	NHS England is due to take over responsibility for managing the NHS identity from the Department shortly, and we will be carrying out a thorough review of NHS identity guidelines during 2014-15.
	Optical Express receives NHS funding from NHS England for providing NHS sight tests and optical vouchers to qualifying patients. The choice of optician is a matter for individual patients who are able to use any optician offering NHS sight tests and they can also choose where they have their glasses dispensed.
	Other eye health services, over and above the NHS sight test, are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups, formerly primary care trusts. Neither the Department nor NHS England holds data on the number of patients who have received such services from Optical Express.

Optical Express

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  with reference to the advertising of Optical Express under the services section of the NHS choices website, for what reason his Department concluded that Optical Express does not fall under the excluded advertising categories set out in the NHS Choices terms and conditions for offering cosmetic surgery and procedures including Botox and sunbeds; and what assessment he has made of whether advertising Optical Express services is an appropriate use of NHS funding used to maintain the website;
	(2)  what payments have been received by the NHS in return for the advertising of Optical Express services on the NHS Choices website.

Daniel Poulter: NHS Choices does not advertise services on their website. Optical Express is included within the service directory published on NHS Choices on the basis that it is a provider of NHS services.
	NHS Choices has neither sought nor received any payment from Optical Express in return for this inclusion.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answers of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 313W, on ovarian cancer and 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 156-57W, on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, if his Department will collect data on the number of women admitted to hospital with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS); if he will take steps to ensure systematic reporting of OHSS from egg sharing and egg donation; if he will make it his policy that ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome be notifiable; and if he will take steps to ensure that women are accurately informed of the risk of hospitalisation from OHSS when considering egg donation or egg sharing procedures.

Jane Ellison: Collection of data relating to treatments regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, and the recording of serious adverse clinical reactions come within the statutory duties of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).
	At its meeting on 9 July 2014, the HFEA agreed a new strategy for 2014-17, which sets out its regulatory focus. Also at that meeting, the Authority members agreed to give consideration to the collection of additional data when a case of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome is reported. The HFEA will take expert scientific and medical advice on whether such data collection would be of value and on the feasibility of collecting reliable information.
	The papers for the meeting and an audio record of the discussions can be found on HFEA’s website at:
	www.hfea.gov.uk/Authority-July-2014.html

Prescription Drugs

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the prevalence and efficacy of the procurement and use of off-patent drugs in the NHS.

George Freeman: We have made no such assessment.
	There are mechanisms in place to ensure that the reimbursement prices paid by the national health service to dispensing contractors for generic (off-patent) medicines dispensed in primary care provide value for money for the NHS in the majority of instances.
	For example, Part VIII of the Drug Tariff lists the most commonly prescribed products with a reimbursement price that dispensing contractors will be paid. Setting a reimbursement price encourages contractors to seek lower prices and procure in a manner that is cost-effective for the NHS.
	In 2013, 83.9% of NHS prescriptions in primary care were prescribed generically.
	Generic products in secondary care are tendered by the Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit in collaboration with the NHS through a national programme that ensures value for money by offering the NHS’ requirement to the market on a consolidated basis, while ensuring quality standards are maintained.

Tobacco: Packaging

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of (a) the tobacco industry and (b) tobacco control charities to discuss proposals for legislation on plain packaging of cigarettes in the last 12 months.

Jane Ellison: Details of ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2012-to-2013